Heart of the Jungle - Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
by FantasyandHistory
Summary: When Spencer, Martha, Bethany, and Fridge get stuck in a video game as adventuring avatars, they have to venture through the jungle and join forces with a well-accomplished archaeologist to end a curse and save the game - the only way they'll ever go home. The only thing is, Dr. Bailey claims to not need or want their help in the quest (full summary inside!)
1. The Task

_Hello and welcome to my latest story, based on 2017's 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'! So I was super excited for this movie and started thinking about this story even before it came out just based on the trailers, that's when the idea of Vera started to emerge. Then I saw it and really enjoyed it - it was so much fun! - and now I have become even more inspired and the whole video game scenario has been an interesting and exciting writing challenge! I'm really excited for this story and hope you enjoy! :)_

 _So the full summary wouldn't fit in the story description, so here's the full summary:_

 ** _"We're here to help you."_**

 ** _"Oh..."_**

 ** _When Spencer, Martha, Bethany, and Fridge get stuck in a video game as adventuring avatars, they have to venture through the jungle and join forces with a well-accomplished archaeologist to end a curse and save the game - the only way they'll ever go home. The only thing is, Dr. Bailey claims to not need or want their help in the quest, especially Dr. Bravestone, who she knows from before... That complicates things, that, and the fact that she doesn't realize it's a game... Can the thrown-together group trust each other long enough to stay alive, break the curse, end the game, and get home? Might later have a little romance between Spencer/Dr. Bravestone and my character, or at least some flirting :) Based on 2017's 'Jumanji'!_**

 _And I do not own 'Jumanji' or any of the characters! Only my character, Vera :) Thanks!_

 _So if you're still with me, I sincerely hope you enjoy 'Heart of the Jungle'! Thanks so much!_

One: The Task

"Welcome to Jumanji!"

A cheerful looking man greeted them, pulling up in a Jeep whose doors promptly popped open, beckoning them inside. "Well come on then!" he urged them with a friendly smile when they stared uncertainly back. This was enough to convince them and they piled into the Jeep. They were barely inside when the doors snapped shut and they drove on.

"Ah, Dr. Bravestone!" the man exclaimed as he drove, turning to Spencer sitting beside him in the passenger seat. "The legendary archaeologist and international explorer himself! Known across the Seven Continents for your skill and bravery and successful expeditions!"

"Uh, hi," Spencer managed.

"Delighted to make your acquaintance! Nigel Billingsley at your service. Welcome to Jumanji!" He tipped his hat.

"Uh, is there a seatbelt?" Spencer asked. The man wasn't exactly driving slow, and the road was rather bumpy, not really even a road at all, just a messy pathway through the jungle.

"I can't tell you what an honour it is to finally meet you!" the man, Nigel, continued. "And I'm not embarrassed to say that you're even more dashing in person!"

"Um, thanks..."

"I've been so anxious for your arrival!"

"Could you keep your eyes on the road please-" The man kept turning to Spencer to speak to him, therefore not able to watch where he was driving.

"Thank goodness you're here! As you know, Jumanji is in grave danger!"

"It is?"

"We're counting on you to lift the curse!"

"Curse?" repeated Fridge, echoing everyone's thoughts. "What curse?"

"Ah, Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar, delighted to make your acquaintance!" Nigel chirped, smiling at Fridge through the rear-view mirror.

"'Mouse'?" repeated Fridge. "Uh, I think you mean 'Moose.' It's Moose."

"My good fellow, I do believe it's 'Mouse'. A nickname given for your diminutive stature, and adorable manner-" The girls tried to hold back a snort of laughter. "-I knew you'd be here - Dr. Bravestone's assistant."

"His what now?"

"Ah yes, Dr. Bravestone never goes anywhere without his loyal and trusty sidekick! Ever since Dr. Bravestone rescued you from a warlord in the jungles of Peru, you haven't left his side!"

Fridge looked utterly dumbfounded by this.

"Welcome to Jumanji!"

"Excuse me, have you seen my phone anywhere?" Bethany tried.

"Ah, Professor Sheldon Oberon, delighted to make your acquaintance! I've been so anxious for your arrival!" Nigel was practically bouncing in his seat. The group couldn't tell if it was from excitement, because he was so anxious as he kept saying, or the bumpy road. "Welcome to Jumanji!"

"What's with this guy?" Bethany whispered.

"Yeah, why does he keep repeating himself?" agreed Martha.

"And you as well, Ruby Roundhouse, killer of men! Delighted to make your acquaintance! Welcome to Jumanji!"

"I think he must be an NPC," Spencer explained.

"A what? English please!" demanded Bethany.

"A non-player character, like he's a part of the game. So anything he says is limited to a series of programmed responses."

"Great..."

"Yeah," added Fridge sarcastically. "Got it. It's all clear now."

"Thank goodness you're here," Nigel cried, turning back to Spencer, once again repeating himself. "As you know from the letter I sent you, Jumanji is in grave danger. We need your help to lift the curse!"

"Letter? I don't have a let-" Spencer gasped suddenly as, just like that, a letter appeared in his hand.

"What does it say?" asked Martha. The others leaned in to look closer. "Maybe it'll have some answers."

Spencer unfolded it and began to read. "Uh, right. 'Dr. Bravestone, I am writing to you urgently..." His voice faded as Nigel's overlapped his and began explaining everything to them. Suddenly, the Jeep melted away and a new scene appeared before them, almost like a movie.

"Uh, guys..."

"Whoa, what's happening?"

"What the hell is going on?"

"It must be a cut-scene," Spencer explained. "A lot of games have them to provide story details. It's like a little movie clip."

 _"...Regarding the desperate situation in Jumanji. We need your help at once! My_ _name is Nigel Billingsley._ _I am a Jumanji field guide,"_ Nigel's voice-over continued. " _And I was recently hired to help lead an expedition run by your former partners, Professor Russel Van Pelt..."_

The group saw the very Jeep they were in now driving through the dense jungle, surrounded by what looked like military men, heavily armed. A man with dark eyes and wearing a long coat emerged from the Jeep, a shining silver handgun resting against his hip. They guessed that this was Van Pelt.

 _"...And Dr. Vera Bailey..."_ Next, a young woman with an excited glow in her eyes and dressed for adventure joined Van Pelt. They looked like total opposites, she with her bright blue shirt and yellow hair, and he with his dark hair, dark clothes, and dark eyes.

 _"...They were in search of the greatest treasure in all of Jumanji,"_ Nigel's voice-over continued to explain. " _The legendary jewel of Jumanji,_ _the fabled_ _Jaguar's Eye, a jewel of immense power, the heart of the jungle itself, and the source of its life and power. I was helping them navigate and look for it. Van Pelt told me that he wanted to find the jewel in order to study it, but little did I know he had other plans..."_

The clip panned out over the jungle, then zoomed in again to show some of the soldiers, as well as Van Pelt, slashing away at the tall grass with knives to make a path for them to follow. _"...We searched and searched, but all in vain. After months of searching, we began to wonder if the jewel was really just a legend after all. Even I had never seen it..."_ The group jumped when the scene cut to a camp, where Van Pelt stabbed a knife into a map laid out on a table, frustrated by their lack of success.

 _"But Dr. Bailey and her contagious optimism urged us onward. And then, at last, we found it, the Jaguar's Eye..."_ The group of expeditioners was framed by vine-decorated statues of different animals. Dr. Bailey ran her hand over the carven figure of an elephant, then snapping a picture of it with the camera hanging around her neck. Then, up ahead,a large, towering jaguar statue made of stone appeared through the trees, a round, green jewel set in the centre of the great cat's forehead, like an eye. _"That was when Van Pelt's true intentions became clear: he took the jewel, taking it for himself, removing it from the statue and thus taking its power to use as his own..."_

The group gasped again as they watched Van Pelt cut the jewel, which glowed a bright green, from the statue, holding it up victoriously, a dark shadow passing over the once bright and colourful jungle. A now very distressed looking Dr. Bailey watched him as a large, vicious-looking vulture-like bird swooped down and landed on his shoulder.

 _"The jewel gave him power over all of the animal life here in Jumanji. Legend has it that should the watchful jaguar ever be blinded, it will not be able to watch over and protect the jungle, leaving it vulnerable and dangerous. Now it seems that legend is true. Dr. Bailey and I tried to convince him otherwise and begged him to return the jewel to its rightful place in the statue, but it had corrupted him, and he craved its power. He never let the jewel out of his sight. Seeing that his actions had threatened the jungle, now leaving it cursed, Dr. Bailey and I devised a plan to steal back the jewel. So that night, whilst he was sleeping, we snuck into his tent and snatched the jewel..."_

The clip showed Nigel prying the jewel from the sleeping Van Pelt's grasp, Dr. Bailey keeping watch from the entrance of the tent. There was a moment of quiet victory when at last, Nigel had it, only to be broken by the squawking of the vulture, much like an alarm, awakening Van Pelt. Nigel tossed the jewel into Dr. Bailey's hands as they fled through the jungle, dodging shots fired at them as they disappeared. Nigel hopped into the jeep, luring the shooting men away, giving her a chance to escape, jewel in hand.

"Bring her to me, with the jewel," growled Van Pelt to the soldiers. "And slaughter anyone else who stands in your way."

 _"_ And that is your task," Nigel finished with a smile. The clip fell away and they were once again in the jeep. "I left the jewel in Dr. Bailey's trusted hands. Find her and help her return the jewel to its rightful place. You will need this map-" He withdrew said map and handed it to Spencer. "Go to the Bazaar and find the missing piece. Good luck friends, the whole of Jumanji is counting on you!"

With that, the Jeep drew to a halt and the doors popped open. The group only sat there, staring open-mouthed back at him.

"On you go! Jumanji thanks you!" Nigel urged them. "Send my regards to Dr. Bailey, and tell her I sent you!" Slowly and hesitantly, the four climbed out of the Jeep. "And now your quest I shall recite in verse: take the jewel, break the curse. If you wish to leave the game, return the jewel and call out its name. But keep this in mind: should the great jaguar once again wink, the true nature of the jewel is not what you think." He repeated this again as he drove away.

"Hey! Wait! Can't you just give us a ride?" called Fridge, but the jeep had already disappeared.

"Oh my God, we're so going to die!" cried Bethany.

"Bethany!" hissed Martha. "Not helping!"

"Well you heard what that creepy guy said: to slaughter anyone who stood in the way of the jewel! And that's what we have to do!"

"He also said to bring this Dr. Bailey to him," Spencer said. "He didn't say anything about wanting to kill her. I think we're safest with her."

"Whoever she is. And where is she?"

"I don't know. But I think that might be what this next level is, finding her."

"Okay. So what do we do?" asked Martha.

"Why are you asking me?!" he cried.

"Well you're obviously kind of the leader."

He sighed. "Fine. We start walking, I guess."

"It's okay, it's going to be okay," Bethany was muttering to herself. "In real life people love you and you can hook up with anyone you want."

"Is that what you tell yourself when you're scared?" Martha scrunched up her nose.

"Oh my God can you stop judging me for like two seconds? I got sucked into a freaking video game, I can't find my phone, and I turned into a guy, I'm allowed to be upset! And besides, says the gorgeous karate bad-ass to the old guy with no endurance."

Just as they were taking their first steps forward, the ominous drumming started again, drawing them all to a sharp halt.

"That can't be a good sign," remarked Fridge, speaking their collective thoughts aloud.

But the game would have its way. They had no choice but to continue.

"Game on," mumbled Spencer, and began to lead the way.

 _So there's the first chapter, I hope you all enjoyed! Thanks so much for reading! :) I did update it as I saw the movie again and there was just too much awesome dialogue I couldn't leave out! ;) I like to go from the actual dialogue, also adding in some of my own. I also sometimes do some re-wording, to keep it different and interesting, but expanding on the original dialogue. Also, how did I miss the first time seeing the movie that Van Pelt was 'Professor'?! Haha now I just picture him doing so Indiana Jones style where he teaches but also goes on crazy expeditions, haha! And if you haven't yet seen the new 'Jumanji', I highly recommend it! Thanks so much! (I'll stop rambling now!)_


	2. Welcome to the Jungle'

_Hello and welcome back! Hope you enjoy this next chapter!_

Two: 'Welcome to the Jungle, We've Got Fun and Games!'

"This is so stupid!" huffed Bethany. "We've been walking for hours!"

"It hasn't been _that_ long," mumbled Martha.

"Well it feels like it! I just want to go home!"

"We all do!" Martha reminded her, more harshly than she intended.

Bethany took offence to her tone. "Well excuse me for being upset!"

"I'm upset too! I'm just keeping it to myself!"

"Hey Spencer, are you actually following that map?" Fridge asked.

Spencer held the map at arm's length and examined it. "Kinda... I'm having a bit of trouble reading it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well not all of it's here. The writing's all broken up. Plus there's this whole piece missing." He pointed to the torn edge.

"Nigel said to find the missing piece. Do you think he meant the map?" tried Martha.

"That's what I'm thinking."

"What do you mean? You can't read this?" Bethany came over, taking the map from his hands. "It's just a map of Jumanji."

"Cartography!" Martha suddenly gasped. "It was one of Professor Oberon's skills."

"Oh, so you can't read this but I can?" Bethany looked impressed.

"That's right. The characters we chose, we all have special skills," said Spencer, realizing this too. "So there must be a way to access our skills-" He began patting himself down, gasping when, after pressing his chest, a bright green box listing strengths and weaknesses appeared before him. "Dr. Smolder Bravestone, age 40. Strengths: fearless, climbing, speed, boomerang - smoldering intensity?" He answered by turning and staring off into the distance dramatically.

"What the hell are you doing?" demanded Fridge.

This broke the trance. "What just happened?"

"Uh, you just smoldered," Bethany told him with a grin.

Spencer turned back to his list. "Weakness: none." He nodded, content with his skills.

"Damn that is a man right there," Bethany commented.

"Okay, stop it," said Martha when it started to get awkward.

"I can't help it," Bethany defended.

"How did you do that? The list?" Martha asked Spencer.

"Uh, I think I just pressed my chest."

Martha turned away slightly and tried pressing her own chest. A bright red box appeared in front of her. "Ruby Roundhouse, age 33. Strenghts: Karate, T'ai Chi, Aikido, dancing fighting - dance fighting? Is that even a thing? Weakness: venom."

Bethany tried next. A bright yellow box appeared. _Professor Sheldon 'Shelly' Oberon, age 45._ Her strengths were cartography, archaeology, and paleontology. Her weakness was endurance. "Seriously?" she said, assessing her skill set. "Pal-e-on-tology? What does that even mean?"

"Um, study of fossils, I think," Martha said. "You know, like dinosaurs. That's pretty cool." She wished she got a skill like that, instead of - dance fighting?

Lastly was Fridge. A bright pink box appeared, listing his strengths as zoology and weapons valet, and his weaknesses as speed, strength, and - cake? _Franklin 'Mouse' Finbar, age 40._

"I hate this game!" he declared. "Everybody else got good stuff!"

"Why do I have to be the oldest?!" whined Bethany.

"Weakness: cake?" said Martha, reading Fridge's list.

"Yes, cake is my weakness. Along with speed and strength. How is strength my weakness?! And speed? Why would I need to be fast if I'm being chased through the damn jungle?!" He was fuming.

"Well, you are a good weapons valet," Martha tried to make him feel better.

"What's that?"

"I think it means you carry my weapons in your backpack and give them to me if and when I tell you to," Spencer explained. Now Fridge looked even more unhappy.

"You guys!" Bethany suddenly gasped. "It's changing! The map's changing!" The other three rushed over to see that indeed it was. More was appearing. "See, it didn't say this before and now it does-" Bethany pointed to the new part. _From the Deep_ was written by the water.

"' _From the Deep'_ ," Spencer read. "The hippo, it came from the deep. "You know, the one-"

"That did the thing, yes." Bethany cut him off. "Moving on."

"I think that that must have been the first level, and now we're on our way to the second level."

"Well don't look at me you're the video game genius."

Spencer gave a sweep of his arm. "Lead the way Professor Oberon."

Now Bethany led the way, map in hand. Once again they were walking through the dense jungle. A nearby rustling drew them to a halt.

"That better not be another man-eating hippo," mumbled Fridge.

 _Dum, dum, dum. Dum, dum, dum._ _Dum, dum, dum._ There were the drums again.

"Um, guys-" Bethany whispered.

The drums cut out and when they did, a figure emerged.

They could only see the figure's outline, the sunlight pouring through the trees casting a shadow on them. They stood before the group, leg up on a rock.

When the shadow passed, the group found themselves face-to-face with a young woman.

Spencer's first thought was, "she's really beautiful" and also, "she means business".

The others recognized her too - it was Dr. Vera Bailey from the cut-scene, who they needed to find and help.

"It's her!" cried Bethany, pointing. The young woman appeared briefly startled by this.

"You're Dr. Vera Bailey, " Spencer said, stepping forward.

She smirked. "Very good Bravestone." And with that, she struck him right across the face.

 _Haha, there's the official introduction to my character :) hope you enjoyed this chapter, thanks so much for reading! Also, I'm listening to the soundtrack while writing this - I highly recommend it, it's so good!_


	3. Call Me 'Doctor' - Dr Vera Bailey

_Hello and welcome back! Here's the next chapter where we actually meet my character! Enjoy!_

Three: "Call Me 'Doctor'" - Dr. Vera Bailey

"Ow!" Spencer cried. "Wh-what was that for?!"

"Oh you know what! For abandoning us!"

"I don't-"

"Oh don't play innocent! You left to pursue your own selfish expeditions leaving the jealous Van Pelt to try and outdo you, leading us here, and now in the middle of this giant mess!"

She looked the same as she had in the cut-scene, only now looked more scraped up and dirty, having been on the run in the jungle. She wore a blue button-up shirt, the buttons undone with the ends tied in a knot, with a creme coloured tank top underneath, green khaki pants, brown combat boots, and leather finger-less gloves. Her yellowish-blonde hair was tied back in a messy fishtail braid over her shoulder, as though she had hastily pulled it back, a few wisps escaping here and there. Her face was tanned and smeared with dirt, but wore a determined look. She had a handgun resting against each hip and a knife sticking out of her boot. She looked to be in about her mid-thirties and she spoke with an English accent.

There was a pause, the others too shocked to respond, especially Spencer. They had no idea what was going on.

"Wait, you guys know each other?" said Martha, gesturing to Dr. Bailey and Spencer, and breaking the shocked silence.

"Yes. We've worked together in the past. Who are you?" Dr. Bailey demanded of the redhead.

"Um, Martha - I mean Ruby Roundhouse, I guess..." This only earned her a confused look.

"Why the hell are you wearing that in the jungle?" Dr. Bailey asked, scrunching up her nose at Martha's shorts and short-sleeved crop-top, just as Martha had done.

"I said the same thing," the red-head assured her.

"Bethany," Bethany cried when the young woman turned to her next.

Now Dr. Bailey looked even more confused. "Bethany?"

"Look, I know this is going to sound, well, weird, but I'm not actually Dr. Bravestone," Spencer told her.

"Really?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

"No, I'm serious!" he insisted. "I'm being completely honest. My name is Spencer, but I got trapped in his body. So I look and sound like Dr. Bravestone, but I'm not really him. See, that's Martha, but she's trapped as Ruby Roundhouse, and Bethany as Professor Sheldon 'Shelly' Oberon. And Fridge-"

But Fridge jumped in. "Hey girl. How are you? I'm Anthony." He gave her a grin.

She regarded him. "And yet you're Franklin Finbar. Bravestone's assis-"

"Assistant, yeah we know. We've been through that already." He was obviously still bitter about this.

"So, yeah," Spencer finished. "It's the truth," he added for good measure, the other's nodding in agreement.

Now Dr. Bailey regarded the four of them, arms crossed. "So let me get this straight: you all look like these people but you're really someone else trapped inside their bodies?"

It did sound pretty absurd, but it was true. "Yes."

She gave a sigh. "The curse is spreading, getting worse. It's trapped you as people you're really not, that's how strong it is. I need to act quickly to put an end to this madness."

Now it was the four's turn to look confused. "Uh no, this ain't a curse-" began Fridge, but Spencer cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the curse. And that's why we're here. We're here to help you."

"Oh..."

"Nigel sent us."

"Of course he did."

"We're here to help you break the curse and save Jumanji."

"Well, thank you, that's very kind, but I don't need your help. Good day." With a small, stiff smile, she turned swiftly on her heel and stalked into the jungle.

There was a shocked silence. "Did she just," began Fridge.

"Leave us?" finished Martha.

"Yeah," said Spencer.

"Rude!" cried Bethany.

"Uh, hey, wait up!" The group took off after her.

"You don't understand, we need to do this in order to go home," Spencer explained, catching up with her. Wow, she was fast.

"What? Can't you just go home?"

"No, we can't go back without helping you." Again, it sounded strange. "It's, the curse," Spencer added, hoping that would make her more likely to believe them, whereas in any other case it probably wouldn't.

"Well, like I said, that's very kind, but I don't want nor need your help. Nothing personal, it's just I'm working alone this time around. It's better that way." With that she continued on.

"What-"

"She can't do that!"

"What's up with all this 'curse' stuff?" Fridge demanded of Spencer.

"I don't think she realizes this is a game," Spencer said, lowering his voice.

"What? How could she not?"

"Well just think: Nigel referred to this as a game, but she hasn't. She seems dead serious."

"Do you think she's trapped here too? Or is she another NPC or whatever?"

"No, I think she's also an NPC."

"But she doesn't repeat herself."

"I don't know man. She must have an expanded set of programmed responses, cause I get the feeling that she's the character we interact with themost in the game. All I'm saying is that let's try to not mention the whole game thing. She already doesn't want our help, we don't want to give her another reason for not wanting it. I think we've confused her enough already."

They continued following her through the trees. I didn't take her long to notice. "What part of 'I don't need your help' don't you get?"

"Look, Vera-"

"Doctor."

"Doctor Vera."

"Doctor Bailey!"

"Sorry! Look, we can help each other. We help you break the curse and you help us complete our quest so we can go home. You can trust us."

"That's what they all say." She sighed, hands on her hips. "Fine. But try and keep up. I won't have you slowing me down, I can't afford that."

The others gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Dr. Vera Bailey, well-known archaeologist and anthropologist adventurer. _Y_ ou can call me 'Doctor'."

"'Doctor', like just 'Doctor'?" said Martha. "Like Doctor Who?"

"Yes, just 'Doctor'. Now come on then." She waved them onward. "Oh, and welcome to the jungle."

 _Haha I had to have Karen Gillan reference 'Doctor Who', I just had to! ;) Haha! And I realized that how I imagined Vera is very similar to the look of Brie Larson's character in Kong: Skull Island, so while reading you can imagine that she looks like Mason Weaver :) And I actually imagined Vera taking pictures of everything in Jumanji, as she says later she's fascinated by it all (which is what I would do if I were to ever go on an adventure like that! ;)) Hope you enjoyed, and thanks so much for all the reads already - this story has only been out a week so that's amazing!_


	4. Run For Your Lives - Literally!

_Welcome back! Let's venture out into the Jungles of Jumanji once again! Haha! ;)_

Four: Run For Your Lives - Literally!

The group did their best to keep up with Doctor Bailey.

"Talk to her," Fridge whispered to Spencer. "Try and get some answers!"

"Why do I have to talk to her?"

"You two obviously have some sort of past!"

"Well obviously not a very good one! She slapped me!"

"Just go on!"

Spencer gave in and stepped forward awkwardly, while the others hung back. "Uh, hi..."

He was glad when she struck up a conversation by posing a question of her own. "How did you get here?"

"Uh..." He and Fridge exchanged a glance. Fridge just waved him on, leaving him to try and come up with something. "W-we don't know really," he partially lied. "We don't remember. It was just kind of one minute back home, and then here the next."

"Strange," she mumbled. "Must be the curse messing with your memory." She was dead serious.

"Yeah, must be," mumbled Fridge. Spencer nudged him.

"What about you? How did you get here?" Spencer asked her.

"A long, long boat ride, all the way from London," she said. "I've been fascinated by this place my whole life and have been studying it about that long too. Finally, I made it here. And now I have to save it."

"See," Spencer hissed to the others. "She's serious. She doesn't know it's a game."

"Poor thing," said Bethany.

"Shh! She thinks it's real. Just role with it." He turned back to Vera. "Um, so Nigel said for us to head to the Bazaar, to 'find the missing piece'."

"Missing piece? Missing piece of what, the map?" She nodded to the torn map in Bethany's hands.

"We think so, but we're not sure."

"Well, that's where I'm headed now. That's where I stashed the jewel."

"Wait, you don't have it?"

"No, I hid it away safely, somewhere Van Pelt and his men won't find it. Nor anyone else for that matter."

"Oh, good, good." He looked to the others who were nodding. This was good.

"Yes. We'll go and retrieve it, and then I shall destroy it."

There was a moment of shocked silence before all at once all four cried, "What?!" all stopping and staring at her.

She appeared slightly startled by their reaction. "To end the corruption and its dark spell over Jumanji, relieving its power over Van Pelt, and returning everything to the way it was," she explained, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The others exchanged a glance. "But, wouldn't it just be the same to return it to the statue?"

"And risk someone else becoming corrupted by its power and having a repeat of this mess?" She raised her eyebrows.

Okay, they saw her point, but they also couldn't let her do that. Not if they wanted to survive. Not if they wanted to go home.

"Guys! The map's changing again!" The group, this time now including Vera, huddled around Bethany. _The Mighty Roar_ was now written in what looked like a clearing.

"The second level?" guessed Martha.

"I think so," agreed Spencer.

"Second level of what?" questioned Vera.

Right, they'd have to be more careful about that.

"Uh, which way?" Spencer ignored her question. He felt rude doing this, but was unsure of what else to do.

"Um, let's see... If that is that, and that is that, then - well right here I think."

As if in response, something sailed between them, rippling the map, exploding ahead of them a few feet away. They turned at the sound of a roaring motor just in time to see a pack of motorcycles launch over the hill towards them.

"Shit!" Vera cried as she watched another line of bikes sail over the hill, speeding towards them. With that, she took off.

"Everybody run!" yelled Spencer, watching the bikes. When he turned back to his companions, he found that they were already way ahead of him, literally, already sprinting down the hill and into the clearing. "Hey wait!" He scrambled to follow them. However, with his speed strength, he was soon caught up and ahead.

Vera was in the lead. Despite being quite small, she was really fast, easily keeping up with Spencer and his special speed skill, even managing to stay ahead.

Seeing as she wasn't as panicked as the rest of the group over the attack, they could only guess that this had happened before. She just kept running, dodging blasts from the bikes. Then, she slowed down and stopped altogether.

"What are you doing?!" cried Spencer.

"Keep going!" She withdrew both handguns. "Take cover in the trees. There's a cliff up ahead, jump down into the lake, that'll lose them."

"What?!" Jump off a cliff?!

I'll do my best to hold them off. Go!"

"But, you-"

"They won't hurt me. Trust me on that. Not if they don't want to suffer at Van Pelt's hands. Now go!"

The bikes were nearing and the others didn't need to be told again. They took off into the trees.

"Ah! Why am I running so slow?!" screamed Fridge.

Vera turned back to face their pursuers, the bikes now speeding towards her on only one wheel, still firing explosives. "Oh Russel," she mumbled. "So dramatic."

She fired a shot which pierced the front wheel of one of the bikes, causing it to spin out of control and crash in an explosion.

The others stopped at the mouth of the forest and had to watch some of the epic spectacle taking place before them. The next thing they knew, Vera was speeding around on one of the bikes herself, having shoved off the rider and stealing the bike. She rode up alongside another bike and kicked the driver off. Then she jumped off her own bike and the others watched as it spun and crashed in an explosion, catching two other bikes up in it.

"Wow," breathed Spencer.

"Whoa! She's so cool!" cried Bethany. "A total bad-ass!"

"What is this game?!" cried Fridge.

Their observance didn't last long as there were still multiple bikes left, and they were zooming straight towards them. They quickly resumed running.

"This sucks!" Bethany practically screamed as they took cover within the trees.

However, this didn't stop the bikes from chasing them. While it did provide obstacles, the bikes persisted relentlessly.

Putting their skills to good use, they actually managed to take down a good number of the bikes themselves. Well, Martha and Spencer at least. Bethany decided to stick with Martha, who had just saved her by launching herself at one of the bikes and kicking the rider off, while Fridge didn't really have a choice in sticking with Spencer, who had just managed to throw a boomerang, which was apparently one of his skills, and completely miss all the bikes.

"Now what?!" Fridge demanded as they took off running again. At least the roaring motors of the bikes made them easy to hear, so they couldn't sneak up on you. "You want me to look in this backpack for a hacky sack or something so you can do absolutely nothing with it-" He was cut off though by the boomerang whipping back towards them, taking out a line of bikes. "You've gotta be kidding me..."

Spencer looked impressed. The victorious moment was short-lived though, for more bikes were still coming. There seemed to be no shortage of them. That led him to wonder if Vera was okay - sure, he had just seen it himself, she was perfectly capable of defending herself and others, but she was vastly outnumbered... But he didn't have long to ponder this. "Come on, we've gotta go-"

"I can't outrun those guys!" How embarrassing. Back at school, he was one of the fastest players on the team.

"uh, well here, get on my back." Spencer crouched down so Fridge could climb onto his back.

"Wha- hell no!"

"I'll carry you, come on-"

"I would rather die," Fridge declared.

"Get on my back!"

"Oh nope, I'm gonna to die-" He barely finished for before he knew it, Spencer had thrown him onto his back and was now charging through the trees.

"Ahhh! PUT ME DOWN! Spencer - PUT ME DOWN SPENCER!"

They met up with the girls again up ahead - at a cliff's edge.

"Vera said jump," Martha reminded them.

"I would literally rather do anything else right now," said Spencer.

The motors behind them were growing louder, and therefore closer. "We have to jump-" And with that, Martha did just that, launching herself over the edge.

"MARTHA!" wailed Bethany, before throwing herself off the cliff after her.

"Spencer jump!" yelled Fridge.

"But I-"

"JUST JUMP!"

Spencer watched as first Martha disappeared, plunging into the water below, then Bethany. His heart thundered in his chest.

"SPENCER!" roared Fridge, who was still on his back.

He took a deep breath, and mustered all the courage he could possibly manage at that moment.

And he jumped.

 _Yay, some action! ;) haha! And more about Vera too! Thanks so much for reading, hope you're enjoying!_


	5. Trust Issues

_Hello again! Welcome back! Here's Chapter Five!_

Five: Trust Issues

"That was the most humiliating moment of my life!" Fridge declared as the group dragged themselves, now dripping wet, from the small lake. The only good thing to come out of this seemed to be that they had lost the bikers, as Vera had said.

Bethany collapsed onto the bank, while Spencer was panicking about having swallowed some water.

"G-guys," Martha managed to choke out. "T-they got me..."

The other three froze when they saw the bloody bullet wound in her chest. And just like that, she disappeared.

"Wait-"

"Oh no, Martha!"

"Did she die? Is she dead!?"

In answer to this, a chiming noise sounded from above, like had happened after Bethany had been eaten by the hippo, and Martha fell from the sky - landing on Fridge.

"Ow! Get off me!"

"Sorry!"

"Martha! You're alive! Are you okay?!" cried Bethany.

"Uh, yeah, I-I think so..." The redhead was obviously pretty shaken, and understandably.

Spencer reached out and gently took her wrist. "That's what I thought," he sighed.

"What?"

"Those tattoos, they're our life count. Bethany got eaten by the hippo, so she only has two lives, and now Martha got shot, so she's down to two as well."

The girls looked at their wrists to find only two black lines now instead of three.

"W-well what happens if we lose all three?" Martha asked shakily, as though she dreaded the answer.

"Well usually that would mean game over..."

"Game over?"

"Wait, like over over? Are you saying we can actually die here?!" cried Fridge.

"I don't know..."

"You don't know?! I thought you were Mr. Video Game Genius!"

"Well I've never been stuck in one okay! But yes, I think that's possible."

There was a quiet moment between them as the group absorbed this.

"W-well, we'd better find the missing piece then," Martha said determinedly.

"Hey wait, where's Vera?" Bethany asked. It was then that the others noticed too - they were back down to four.

"You don't think they - _killed_ her, do you?"

"She said they wouldn't hurt her..."

They jumped a little when they heard the sound of another motor bike.

"Oh no, not this again..."

They prepared themselves for another chase, but quickly realized that they were quite safe. A bike pulled up to the edge of the lake, driven by Vera herself.

"Oh good. I hoped I would find you all here." She dismounted and left the bike at the water's edge. "Everyone alright? No one hurt?"

"N-no..."

"Good. Onward then." She waved them on.

"Hey, you were amazing back there," Spencer told her.

"Oh, thank you."

"You really know how to - kick some ass!" He chuckled awkwardly.

She chuckled a little herself at this. "Thanks."

They trudged on, Vera once again in the lead. The four avatars were still pretty shaken from the near-death experience with the motorbikes.

"Look, despite what I might say, and despite our falling out, I am a big fan of your work," Vera told Spencer who was walking behind her. "His work. Sorry, I'm still not used to the whole you-lot-being-stuck-in-other-people's-bodies thing."

"Yeah, trust me, we're not either. And you are? A big fan of my - I mean Bravestone's - work?"

"Yeah. Always have been. Archaeologist to archaeologist, doctor to doctor." She smiled a little. Then her face fell. "I just can't afford another mistrust."

"So, trust issues huh?"

"You could say that. I was betrayed by my - work partner." She paused briefly before saying 'work partner', as though in consideration.

He nodded. "Van Pelt?"

Now she turned sharply to face him. "How did you-"

"Nigel told us."

"Oh. Of course he did." _How much did he tell you?_

"You were a part of the expedition? The one that brought him here?"

"I was. Let me guess, Nigel told you all about that too? You know, it's kind of funny, I never really believed in magic or curses. Not until I met Russel. For such a serious guy, he wholeheartedly believed in all that stuff. Magical amulets, ancient relics imbued with great power, cursed jewels... And now look at me, right at the centre of it all."

Spencer nodded. "You know, you actually kind of remind me of Lara Croft, a video game character. She's an archaeologist-adventurer too, and deals with some magical and cursed artifacts. She's English too."

"Hmm, sounds interesting."

"Yeah, she's pretty cool. It's a fun game."

"Oh, my, God," Bethany suddenly cried, stopping in the middle of the path.

The others stopped as well, looking at her in concern. "What?"

"I can't believe I didn't realize it before! I'd know that look anywhere: you just went through a break up!"

Now all eyes were back to Vera who appeared startled. She looked as though she was about to protest but then gave up. She kept walking. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh come on, talking about it helps I promise! I've been through this many times before, I would know!" Bethany hurried ahead of the others to walk at Vera's side.

Vera still appeared hesitant. "I really don't-"

"I'm here to support you, in this difficult time, woman to woman," Bethany assured her. "Now come on girl, spill it."

"I-I don't know where to start-"

"That's what I'm here for!" Then she hollered over her shoulder, "Martha! Come join us! We're having a girl talk!"

Hesitantly almost, Martha awkwardly shuffled over. "Don't think I'll be much help but, I'm here."

"Okay," Bethany said, turning back to address Vera. "We're your support squad. First thing's first: who did the breaking up? You or him?"

"Uh, me... I guess... Not officially, but it's obvious. We had a disagreement, and both went our separate ways..." To finish, she shrugged.

"OMG this is literally what I just went through with Noah! I know exactly what you're going through right now!"

"I'm quite over it really," the blonde insisted.

"Well I'm here to talk to if you need it. Lucinda, she's like, my best friend, is always there to talk to whenever I have boy issues."

"Thanks, Bethany."

"Well no wonder you've got some trust issues! First your work partner, then your boyfriend! Double the sting!"

"Yeah..." Vera only nodded.

They continued on.

"Careful," Spencer called as they climbed up some rocks to continue following the path. "Wouldn't want anyone to twist an ankle. I did that at camp once - not fun."

"You don't get out much, do you," Vera said.

"Y-you can tell?"

She chuckled. "Only a little."

"Yeah, I guess. Before this, the most dangerous thing I'd ever done was write Fridge's paper for him."

She raised her eyebrows. "You need to live a little mate."

Suddenly, the drums started again from overhead, though sounding more distant this time.

"You hear that?" said Vera. Everyone turned their gazes up to the sky. "Legend has it those drums are the heartbeat of the jungle."

 _Yay, more about Vera! And I saw the movie again and went back and updated the first chapter with some of the dialogue :) Like I said in the updated chapter, I like to go from the actual dialogue from the movie, also adding in some of my own, but I'm going from memory so it's not perfectly accurate! Anyways, please re-read chapter one if you're interested in seeing the changes, thanks again!_


	6. Into the Jungle We Go!

_Hello again and welcome back to 'Heart of the Jungle'! Hope you all enjoy this next chapter!_

Six: Into the Jungle We Go!

The ladies were now walking ahead of the guys.

"So what happened exactly?" Bethany was still curious about Vera's break-up.

"Bethany, cut it out! Can't you see she doesn't want to talk about it," Martha scolded. Vera had to admit she was thankful to the redhead - she appreciated Bethany's concern and willingness to help, but Martha was right: she did not want to talk about it.

"Hey, can I borrow your jacket if you're not using it?" Martha then asked, nodding to Bethany's jacket which she had tied around her waist in the heat of the jungle.

"Yeah sure." She untied it and handed it to Martha.

"Thanks. I feel like I'm wearing a bikini at school." Martha tied it around her own exposed waist.

"I did that once," Bethany recalled. "I got sent to the office."

"Makes sense."

"Noah liked it when I showed some skin. It was like the key to our relationship."

Now Martha scrunched up her nose. "Eww."

"Oh my God again with the judging! You don't even know me and it's like you've already made up your mind that you hate me."

"Whoa, hey, I don't hate you," Martha defended. Bethany raised her eyebrows in a 'really?' sort of way. "I just think that you're living in the popular-girl bubble, you know, where people either treat you like a princess, or an object, and it's made you a little self-absorbed, maybe. And you're your own person, and should be treated as such."

Bethany considered this. "Do you think the reason why you're so closed off is that you're afraid people won't like you so you decide not to like them first?"

Martha considered this for a moment. Even Vera paused, intrigued by what the girl trapped inside a man's body had to say.

"No - maybe."

Bethany grinned. "Okay then. I'm just saying you're a babe, so own it."

Now Martha looked a mix of touched and surprised. "Thanks, I think."

Vera considered this too. "That's interesting advice."

"Yeah I actually give really good advice." Bethany paused. "Vera, I'm just curious, but it wasn't Bravestone who you broke up with, was it?"

" _What_?!" the young woman cried, louder than intended. She shook her head. "No, no definitely not. We were just colleagues."

"I just thought maybe cause of your reaction to seeing him and all. I just had to ask."

"Fair enough. Speaking of..."

They noticed then that the guys had fallen behind a bit, due to them being in an argument. Fridge had obviously said something that had hurt Spencer, for the taller man was staring down at the ground, looking, well, sad. They watched as Fridge then lunged forward in a mock attack, making Spencer jump.

Tension now hovered over the group.

"Oi, let's keep moving," Vera prompted them.

"Dumbass," mumbled Spencer as Fridge went to follow the ladies.

He heard this. In a burst of fury he dove at Spencer, shoving him off the cliff's edge. Spencer's screams echoed as he fell.

"Bravestone!" cried Vera, momentarily forgetting that he was not actually her former partner.

"SPENCER!" Martha and Bethany ran over and watched in horror as Spencer plunged down to the base of the cliff. "You killed him!"

"Bitch, you lunatic!" yelled Bethany.

"Oh chill out," snapped Fridge. "He'll be back."

As if on cue, they heard the chiming, and Spencer fell from the sky, landing swiftly. Now his wrist only bared two life lines.

"This just keeps getting stranger and stranger," Vera muttered to herself. That jewel certainly was powerful. It just went to show that, despite years and years of intense research, she actually knew very little about it and this place.

"Are you okay?" cried Martha, rushing over.

Spencer assessed himself, obviously shaken. "Yeah, I-I think so."

"Don't call me a dumbass." Fridge pointed threateningly at him.

"Don't push me," Spencer shot back.

"Or what? What'cha gonna do Spencer?" Fridge mocked.

"I'll push you back."

"Okay enough!" ordered Vera, stepping between them. "Fighting won't help. I've had enough of breaking up your and Van Pelt's arguments, I don't want it to start again here too."

"She's right," agreed Spencer. "And we can't waste lives. We need each other, like it or not-" He grew all intense. "We have to do this together."

"Could you say that again please," said Bethany, obviously smitten.

"We have to do this together," Spencer repeated in his normal voice.

"No but with the smolder. Do you have control over it or does it just happen naturally?"

He smoldered again. "It just happens naturally."

"Yup, it just happens naturally," Vera assured them. "Now come on, we're almost at the bazaar."

* * *

Far away, deep in the jungle, a camp was nestled in the trees. It was the very camp Vera had hastily abandoned those many nights before, trying to get the jewel to safety.

The bikers who had attacked the group earlier that day were just returning, here to report back to their boss. They had good and bad news: good, Dr. Bailey hadn't been harmed, but bad, she and the others had gotten away and didn't have the jewel.

Van Pelt had his back to them, and was watching intently as a tarantula crawled up his arm, beneath the sleeve of his coat, a creature that would have made Vera cringe. He had a content smile on his face. Somehow, he sensed their presence. "Bravestone?"

"Yeah, him and the others, the whole lot."

"They got away."

"We lost 'em - they had help-"

"Vera." The smile crawled further up the dark-eyed man's lips.

"Yeah..."

"A pair of old friends, reunited at last." Now he spun around sharply to face them, the smile gone. "I will summon every creature, every soul in this jungle to hunt them down and reclaim what is mine."

 _Oooo! Haha! ;) Yay next up, the bazaar, which is one of my favourite parts in the whole movie! :) Thank you so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! And thank you so much for all the reads - you guys are amazing! :)_

 _Also, I'm going to be starting a 'Jurassic Park'/'Jurassic World' story soon, so if you're interested, please stay tuned! Thanks!_


	7. Bizarre at the Bazaar

_Hello! Time to return to the jungle to continue our adventure! ;) Enjoy!_

Seven: Bizarre at the Bazaar

The bazaar was one of the most notable points of the game. It was colourful and bright and busy. And interesting. There was so much to look at.

Vera led them all the way through the intricate market, a combination of inside and outside booths and tents, and to the other end, the very edge of it.

"Alright, you lot stand watch," she ordered them.

"Where are you going?" In response, the doctor shoved aside an empty, abandoned cart and lifted the colourful rug beneath it that they were standing around. Beneath it was a wooden hatch which she also lifted, revealing a dark hole. She lowered herself down into it - it mustn't have been very deep - and took out her knife. Now the others stood around the hole, peering down into it, watching her. Taking her knife she went to cut one of the stones inlaid in the wall, but stopped abruptly, obviously noticing something.

"Bloody hell-" She removed the stone, without having to carve it out - she had refilled the dirt around it to hold it in place and make it look untouched and undisturbed, but it had definitely been carved out since her last being there.

She cursed. The hiding place in the space behind the rock was empty, no jewel. She cursed again, returning the rock messily to its place and hauling herself up out of the hole, kicking the hatch closed in anger.

"It's gone," she promtly declared.

The others stared back at her. "Wait, wh- what do you mean gone?" cried Fridge.

"I mean gone! No longer where I put it!" She tried not to panic. If Van Pelt got a hold of it again... He was smart, maybe he had figured it out... No, she didn't want to jump to conclusions...

"There's no possible way anyone could know-" She cut herself off, the realization dawning on her, hard like a slap in the face. Of course, how could she have been so stupid? "Seaplane," she growled. The others didn't have a chance to ask her what she meant before she stormed off, back into the heart of the market.

They soon reached the centre of the busy space. "Rations! Get your rations!" An older man called, waving a loaf in the air.

"Oh my God does anyone have any money I'm like literally starving!" Bethany pushed past the others and to the food booth.

"Guys, I think it's telling us to keep our health up," said Spencer. Then he grew all intense. "We need to eat-"

"Okay will you stop doing that," said Fridge, breaking the smoldering trace.

Spencer sighed. "I told you I can't help it! Now we need to eat, but we also need to be discrete-"

"Oh no, now you're rhyming too," mumbled Fridge.

"Oh my God this is so good! I haven't had bread since I was like nine!" Bethany gushed.

"Seriously?" questioned Martha.

"Yeah. How do you think I got these abs?"

"Give me some of that-" Fridge snatched some of the loaf from Bethany's hands, taking a rather large bite, savoring it. Then his face fell. "Uh, what is this?" he asked the seller.

"That's my famous pound cake," the man replied.

"Cake? Ooo, I'll try some then. I'm known for my incurable sweet tooth." Vera took a piece for herself, almost not noticing the sudden tension that had risen amongst her companions.

"Cake?" cried Martha. "Isn't that one of your weaknesses?"

Now Fridge tried not to panic. "Bethany I thought you said this was bread-"

Bethany smiled sheepishly. "I guess it's been so long I forgot what it tastes like..."

"HOW DO YOU FORGET-" Fridge cut himself off. "Uh, i-is something happening to me?"

When his friends assured him that nothing unusual was happening to him, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Okay, okay we're fine. It probably just meant that I love cake so much I just couldn't resist it!" he tried to reassure himself. "It's all good-"

 _BANG!_ He was barely finished before he was swallowed up by a rather large explosion that shook the whole bazaar.

"Oh my God! Fridge!" wailed Bethany, staring at the now empty spot where he had just moments before been standing.

There was the sound of chimes overhead, followed by a scream, and seconds later Fridge reappeared, falling and smashing down into a pile of crates.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"Bloody hell," mumbled Vera. "This curse is really messing with us." The others didn't respond to this, only exchanged a knowing glance. With another glance at the explosive cake, she promptly discarded her own piece.

Spencer went to go help Fridge to his feet. "Like I said, it's important to be discrete."

"Yeah but you also said eat!" countered Fridge.

"Rations! Get your rations!" called the man, waving the deadly loaves in the air, completely un-phased by what had just happened.

"You can shut your ass up!" Fridge snapped at him, making him go away.

"Dr. Bravestone!" An excited young boy came over to them then. It seemed that everyone had moved along with what they were doing before, as if the explosion and man falling from the sky only to come crashing down and cause a scene had never happened. "Thank goodness you're here! Jumanji needs you!"

"Uh, thanks. Good to be here," Spencer responded with much less enthusiasm.

"Ask him about the missing piece." Martha nudged Bethany.

"Oh right! Uh, hi, I'm Bethany - I mean Dr. Shelly... Something. I'm a - a map doctor, and we're trying to find the missing piece." She looked to the boy expectantly.

The boy only stared back blankly, blinking a few times, before turning back to Spencer, the same excitement as before returning to his face. "Dr. Bravestone! Thank goodness you're here! Jumanji needs you!"

"Uh, rude," remarked Bethany.

"Excuse me, do you think you might be able to help us?" Vera tried. She took the map and held it up. "We're looking for the missing piece of this map."

"Dr. Bravestone! Thank goodness you're here! Jumanji needs you!"

Now Vera frowned, obviously perplexed.

"We're looking for the missing piece," Spencer tried.

The boy glanced around them cautiously before nodding for them to follow him.

"Oh, now he gets it."

They followed, no one noticing the vulture perched above them, watching intently. When they disappeared into a tent, the bird took flight. His master would be pleased to know the location of Dr. Bailey and the jewel thieves.

 _Sort of a cliffhanger ending! Hope you all enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! And I've decided to break up the next few chapters and make them shorter, just cause I felt that they worked better that way, so just thought I'd let you know! Until next time!_

 _Also, I started my 'Jurassic Park'/'Jurassic World' story (I was too excited to wait!), so if you're interested, please check it out! :) Thanks!_


	8. Snake Charmers

_Welcome back! Hope you enjoy!_

Eight: Snake Charmers

The boy led them deeper into the bazaar to a more covered area, and then inside a tent. All that was inside was a table in the very centre, on which sat a single basket covered with a lid.

The boy turned serious. "What you need is in the basket. One wrong move, you're in a casket. Trust one another, never blink. The missing piece is not what you think. Good luck mighty hero!" he concluded, once again becoming cheerful and addressing Spencer. "Jumanji needs-"

"Needs him, yeah we know, we got it," Vera cut him off. "Thanks kid, you can run along now." And the boy did just that.

Now the five turned to face the basket. "So, uh, what do you think's inside?"

"I don't know..."

"Well, I think this is a Bravestone thing," Fridge decided.

"Why would it be a Bravestone thing?!" cried Spencer in protest.

"Cause you heard him, you're the 'mighty hero.' Now get."

Hesitantly, Spencer gave in and approached the basket. They all jumped when the drumming started again, seemingly from overhead.

"I don't want to do this!" Spencer cried.

"Just go!"

Still hesitant but realizing he really had no choice, Spencer cautiously approached the basket. Then, taking a deep breath, he lifted the lid...

Nothing happend.

"Oh," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. "It's empty-"

But he spoke too soon as right then, a large snake poked its head out, hissing, jaws wide and fangs bared.

"SNAKE!" shrieked Vera, leaping back.

"Black Mamba!" yelled Fridge, pointing at the creature. Bethany and Martha responded by shrieking too.

Spencer slammed the lid back down onto the basket, sealing it and holding it closed.

"The black mamba. A quarter miligram of its venom is enough to kill an adult," Fridge informed them. Then he shook his head in pure disbelief. "How do I know this?!"

"Okay, 'trust one another and never blink'..." Spencer recited the verse, trying to figure it out.

"What does that have to do with a snake?!"

"You guys!" gasped Bethany with realization. "I think it's a staring contest!"

"What?!"

"Think about it: never blink."

"I think she's right," Spencer agreed. The basket was shaking in his hands - no doubt the snake had become angry with being trapped. "Okay, who's good at staring and not blinking?"

There was a moment before Bethany declared, "I'm amazing at it."

"Beth, this is your moment," said a still-shaken Martha. Vera was frozen and said nothing.

Bethany lowered herself down so that she was kneeling before the basket and so that she would be eye-level with the snake. She took a deep breath, composing herself.

"Just tell me when," Spencer said, concern clear in his voice.

"Okay - now."

Slowly, he lifted the lid. The snake rose out of the basket and locked eyes with Bethany. They held gazes. Then, without any warning, it lunged forward, hissing. This broke the staring contest. Then, it shot out of the basket, snapping its venomous jaws at Vera, who still stood frozen.

Luckily, Spencer acted quickly and reached out, grabbing the snake before it could get her. Now he held it, its face just inches from hers.

"Okay, now what?!" he cried, the snake wriggling in his grasp.

"We've got to de-fang it!" cried Fridge with certainty.

"We what?!"

"De-fang it-" Fridge reached forward and promptly snapped off the snake's fangs with no trouble.

Spencer let the snake go. There was a moment of stunned silence.

"I guess it wasn't a staring contest..."

 _Haha, love that moment ;) Thank you so much for reading and commenting and your continued support! :)_


	9. Trust

Hello! Here's the next chapter for you! :)

Nine: Trust

There was a moment of heavy silence as everyone recovered, the tension from just moments before slowly fading away.

"'Trust one another and never blink'," Spencer repeated, breaking the silence. Then he looked at Vera who was still recovering from the scare, staring down at the now limp snake where it lay on the ground at their feet. "You trusted me."

She looked up at him and seemed to realize this too. "Yeah, I-I did." Her fear fell away and turned into a small smile, which he returned.

"And you trusted me," said Fridge. "And I de-fanged the snake."

"We trusted each other," Martha realized aloud. "'Trust one another and never blink.'"

There was a moment of quiet victory.

"I de-fanged a snake!" declared Fridge again, now beaming, obviously impressed with himself.

"Um, well it's definitely not the missing piece of the map..." The others turned to Bethany who had retrieved what the snake had been guarding in the basket. A small stone carving of an elephant, wrapped in parchment.

"Look, there's something written on the wrapping paper: 'The jewel is the heart but it is not the key. When you see me, begin the climb,'" Martha read.

"Oh no, more riddles."

"'When we see an elephant?"

"Climb?"

"Heart? Key?"

"What about the missing piece?"

"I guess we just have to keep looking."

And with that, they started to head back to the busier section of the bazaar.

Bethany caught up to Vera, who still appeared tense. "Jealous?" she asked. When Vera looked at her quizzically she elaborated. "When that kid was calling Spencer a mighty hero, you seemed sort of jealous."

Now Vera understood. She shook her head. "No. I just thought that I would be the one to save Jumanji." She paused and thought about this. "That sounds jealous, and selfish, only it's not. It's just, I'm part of the reason this whole curse happened in the first place, so it only makes sense that I should be the one risking myself to end it. It's only fair. That's why you guys shouldn't be here, risking yourselves."

"Yeah I really didn't want to."

"Bethany!" cried Martha.

"But that was before," Bethany finished. "Now I want to help. We all do." She looked to Martha who nodded in agreement.

Vera smiled. "Thank you."

"So what now?" asked Fridge as they wandered back through the market.

"I don't know," Vera replied. "We keep looking for the missing piece I suppose. And the jewel now as well."

When they emerged into the more open part of the bazaar, Vera noticed it first: the large vulture perched on the roof above, eyeing them with its beady eyes, eyes that locked with hers.

Something- fear almost - flashed across her face. "We need to go, now."

 _Cliffhanger! Sort of ;) Like I said these few chapters are shorter but that means I'll post them sooner! Hope you all enjoyed and as always, thanks so much for reading! Bye!_


	10. Caught!

Hello welcome back! Again, this is a shorter chapter but they'll start getting longer again soon - enjoy!

Ten: Caught!

She took off running through the crowd. With no chance to ask questions, the others were left standing there confused. That was until they heard the motors and saw the lights of the bikes - this snapped them into action and they quickly followed suit.

The group tore through the bazaar, knocking into people and booths and crates, making a huge mess of the beautiful place. They heard angry shouting behind them and could only guess that the men had abandoned their bikes and were now chasing after them on foot.

"Hey!" someone yelled in protest as they knocked over a stack of crates full of goods to be sold.

"Sorry!"

It didn't take long for Vera and Spencer, who were of course in the lead being the fastest ones there, to become enclosed by a group of the men. They stood, back-to-back, assessing their situation.

"Uh, you take those guys and I'll take these guys," Spencer suggested, eyeing the men before him. He turned to the rather burly man standing directly in front of him. "I should warn you, I think I'm a very strong puncher."

"Just punch him!" cried Vera. And with that she stepped forward and delivered a kick to the gut of one of the men, beginning the fight. Spencer followed suit and threw a punch, which much to his shock, sent the man sailing through the ceiling boards and up into the sky. Surprised but impressed, he didn't have much time to bask in his victory as another man came at him with knives, whipping one towards them which Spencer managed to catch mid-flight - right before it struck Fridge through the forehead. He dropped the knife into Fridge's hands and stepped forward, this time with confidence. "Let's do this."

Soon Vera was much too shocked to fight herself and joined the others in watching Spencer single-handedly take down all the men. Not that she hadn't seen Bravestone fight before, and it was impressive, but Spencer's expression as he successfully fought was priceless. She looked especially impressed when he tossed a man through the wall.

"Wow! That is _insane_!" cried Bethany, echoing everyone's thoughts.

Now all the men lay scattered across the bazaar. Spencer turned back to his friends, a wide grin on his face. _Did you see that?!_ his eyes cried.

"Not bad Bravestone," Vera complimented.

He nodded thankfully. "You too Bailey."

 _Bang! Bang!_

Sudden, sharp gunshots rang throughout the now panicked bazaar. People screamed. A figure pushed through the crowd.

Vera froze. She recognized those gunshots.

Van Pelt was here.

 _Duh duh DUH! Haha! ;) I'm super excited for the next chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed, thanks so much for reading as always! :)_


	11. Reunited?

Hello and welcome back! Hope you enjoy this chapter (I'm excited for this one! ;))

Eleven: Reunited?

"Back, get back!" She jumped in front of her four companions - he wouldn't hurt her, so as long as she was there with them they were safe. And he wouldn't just hurt them if given the chance, he would kill them.

Speaking of. There he was emerging through the crowd which had frantically moved back. They had the right idea, get out of the way. You didn't want to get in his way. He was flanked by more of his soldiers.

She hadn't seen him since the night she had hastily fled the camp. That had been weeks ago. He looked pretty much the same, although his newly-coloured eyes seemed to grow brighter, especially when they fell on her.

Now both sides stood, staring one another down.

Van Pelt smirked. "Hello Love. Fancy seeing you here." She responded by pulling one handgun from its holster and pointing it at the rival group, making sure she separated them and her new friends. She figured though, that even if she had to, she wouldn't be able to pull the trigger, not if her gun was on him.

His soldiers responded by raising their own weapons, but he only raised a hand to tell them to stand down, for now. Next he addressed Spencer. "Hello Doctor. It's been a long time." Spencer only stared back. "I believe you have something of mine."

Spencer gulped. "We just want to go home."

Still smirking, Van Pelt turned back to Vera. He looked back and forth between her and Spencer. "Vera..." He shook his head. "You moved on so quickly."

She ignored this. "We don't have the jewel." Now she spoke the truth, she didn't have to lie.

"Come back with us. We won't harm your new friends."

Her grip on the gun tightened. "Liar!"

"I don't lie."

"Oh, no? Like you didn't lie about the real reason why you wanted the jewel? Like how you didn't lie about how you felt!"

"I didn't lie."

"You used me! Now I see where your priorities really lie."

"I never lied."

"Bullshit!"

"I never lied."

"Oh shut up! Stop saying that!"

There was a moment of tense silence, Vera glaring across at him, fuming, so angry that she was almost shaking.

Her new friends noticed her change in demeanor right away; despite being noticeably angry, while before she had confidently faced the bikers, now she seemed - more unsure, fearful almost. Now that she faced the leader. But not afraid of _him_ , no, but afraid of what she might have to do to stop him, such as use the gun in her hand.

Suddenly, Bethany gasped, turning all eyes on her. "Oh my God! It's him!" she cried, realizing first. "The creepy bad guy's your ex!"

 _Haha, I felt like that was a good place to end ;) Did you guys see it coming? Was it a surprise? I'm curious! Finally we have the truth - we'll learn more about them later! For now, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)_

 _Oh and if any of you are also reading my 'Beauty and the Beast' story (if you are, thank you!) I just wanted to let you know that I FINALLY updated another chapter! Thanks!_


	12. Jewel Thief

Hello welcome back! And now, picking up right where we left off...

Twelve: Jewel Thief

Now all eyes went from her to Vera, who now stood uncomfortably.

"Awkward..." mumbled Fridge, his voice high-pitched.

Vera sighed. "I told you I didn't want to talk about it."

Perhaps it was Bethany's comment which earned them Van Pelt's next order. "Kill them! Bring her!"

Receiving their order, the soldiers strode forward towards them, weapons drawn and ready.

 _This is it,_ Spencer thought. _Game over._

But then, before anyone could react, smoke filled the area, separating the two groups. Now everyone was a mess of coughing, spluttering, and waving the thick smoke away.

The outline of a figure appeared through the haze. "This way, quick, follow me!" A young man's voice called out over the sound of shots being fired blindly into the smoky abyss. The group didn't need to be told again, and followed him the best they could.

"Quick, down here!" The young man removed a grating in the ground, revealing a ladder leading underground. He urged them on quickly, the smoke fading rapidly. He went last, ducking into the hole and putting the grate back, sealing their hiding place.

Only then did everyone dare to breathe a sigh of relief.

 _SMACK_! Without hesitation, Vera promptly struck the newcomer across the face. "Thief! Where is it?!" she hissed.

"Ow! What the-" He removed the cloth covering his face to reveal a handsome young man - with a now bright red and most likely stinging cheek. "Vera-"

"-Dr. Bailey."

"-I told you before, I'm just trying to help you!" he protested, taking a step back from the obviously upset doctor.

"By stealing?!"

"Look, you can't destroy the jewel, okay, you just can't."

"And why not Seaplane?" she mocked. "How about you have your good friend and work partner become corrupted by it and turn evil, and then tell me that you don't want to destroy it too!"

"And boyfriend - how about that important detail, huh? Look, I'm sorry alright! I didn't want to take it, but I had no choice. And I did just save you from your maniac ex-boyfriend."

"Oh not you too-"

"So you're welcome."

"I had it under control. He won't hurt me, so you're lucky I'm on your side-"

"Shhh!" he hissed suddenly, holding a finger to his lips and then pointing to the ceiling. There was still shouting and footsteps from overhead. "Now follow me and do exactly as I say. And please, _be quiet_!" He lit a torch and waved the group on. "Oh I am so stoked you guys are here," he whispered excitedly. "So stoked! You have no idea-"

"You are?"

"Yeah! I've been waiting for you guys for so long!"

"You have?"

"Yeah - backs against the wall!" he suddenly shouted.

The others obeyed - right as arrows zipped past their heads and into the far wall behind them.

"This game sucks," whispered Fridge.

"Wait, you knew we were coming?" asked Spencer as the young man waved them on.

"Yeah! When I heard about the strangers I thought 'naw, it couldn't be.' But then, I began to wonder..."

"Wait, you're Seaplane aren't you? The pilot?"

"Yeah, that's me! Oh, watch your step in here," he warned. "And don't step on the white bricks-"

"Shit-" Bethany had just stepped on one right as he said that. Long, thin blades shot out of the wall between them. Martha shrieked. "Sorry," Beth said sheepishly.

"So gnarly," the young man said as the blades slid back into the walls and the group continued on.

"Really?! Seriously?! It had to be the guy who's trying to kill us - it just had to be!" Fridge was now mumbling. "He's your boyfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend! Not anymore!" Vera snapped back at him from where she was walking ahead. "I told you I don't want to talk about it!"

They soon came to the end of the long cavern. The young man, Seaplane, tossed his torch below them - only to reveal a pit filled with water and vicious-looking crocodiles with snapping jaws.

He must have done this before because he calmly took a plank of wood that had been resting against the wall and lay it across the gap so they could cross over. "Careful. It's a horrible way to die." He spoke knowingly.

Once they were all safely across, Seaplane undid a latch on a door. Instead of leading out into the bazaar as they had been expecting, it led right out into the dense jungle. If you peered through the trees, you could see the bazaar perched on the mountainside. Wow, they'd come a long way.

"Anyways, I'm Alex." He clapped his hands together and turned to give the group a smile.

"So, 'Alex'-" Vera strode forward towards him, hands on her hips. He jumped back, as though he feared another slap. "The jewel. _Now_." She held out her hand expectantly.

"Okay, okay, alright. It's right through here." He began leading them through the trees.

"Wait - you don't have it?"

"Not on me, no."

"You left it unattended?!"

"That's what you did!"

"I _hid_ it, there's a difference-"

"Guys, could we try and get along please," Spencer said, obviously a bit uncomfortable with the fighting.

"Well I hid it too, in my hide-out."

Alex led them a little further until the trees began to thin to reveal a small, crafty hut.

Alex strode up the steps, dug around through a pile of supplies, and withdrew a cloth-wrapped item. He unraveled the cloth to produce a bright green jewel that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. There was a moment of silence as everyone stared.

"That's it?" said Fridge. "I thought it would be bigger. You know, it being the 'heart of the jungle' and all."

"This is it," Vera assured him, snatching it from Alex.

"Wow, it's really beautiful." Bethany came to inspect it.

Vera nodded. "Yes, it is. Beautiful, but dangerous."

 _Yay, now we've met Alex! :) Hope you guys enjoyed, thanks so much for reading! And in the next chapter we'll learn the whole story behind Vera and Van Pelt's relationship - I'm so excited! ;)_


	13. Vera's Story

Hello and welcome back! Now time for some backstory :)

Thirteen: Vera's Story

Evening settled over Jumanji. Alex made a fire and they all sat around it as the jungle grew dark for the night. Spencer kept jumping at all the different nightly jungle sounds.

"Chill Spencer, jeez," chuckled Fridge. He jumped and cried out himself a few moments later when a bird overhead started calling. Now it was the others' turn to chuckle.

"So, you wanna talk about it now?" Bethany asked Vera, trying not to pry, but also curious. They all were.

Vera chuckled. "No, not really. But you deserve to know I guess." She stared into the crackling flames. "We were a team, the three of us." She nodded to Spencer's Bravestone. As her words continued, the scene melted away, just as it had done when Nigel had provided the backstory.

"Hey, it's another one of those things!" cried Bethany.

"A cut-scene," Spencer corrected.

"Yeah those!"

"Don't interrupt," said Martha.

While the others reacted, Vera didn't seem at all phased by it. A photo appeared, black and white, of the three of them, the once-team, Bravestone smoldering of course, Vera standing in the middle wearing a smirk, leaning with her arm resting on a very serious Van Pelt's shoulder, his arm around her waist. When she continued, it was in voice-over.

 _"He was always rather jealous of you - Bravestone I mean. Thought he always got all the credit for everything. That would get on anyone's nerves. But him, it made his blood boil..."_

Many newspapers flashed before them, all with headlines such as 'Bravestone does it again!' and 'Legendary Archaeologist Makes Remarkable Find!' There was no mention of the other two team members. There was one that said 'Dr. Bravestone and Team', but didn't go into detail about names.

 _"...That's why he was so intent on finding the jewel. A chance to prove himself better than even the great Dr. Bravestone. It got to the point where you two were always arguing, you couldn't agree on anything, and I would always have to step in and break up your arguments..."_

A clip showed just that, Bravestone and Van Pelt having an argument, growing increasingly angry, and Vera jumping in between them, separating them, grabbing them both by the collars of their shirts. It was strange for Spencer to watch him, well his avatar, in the scenes, almost like watching a video clip of yourself, but not remembering any of it actually happening.

 _"_ _Together Russel and I had been studying Jumanji and the Jaguar's Eye for a long time, in between our work as a team. That's how we met actually, many years ago, through a mutual interest in the fabled jungle._ _He, Bravestone, thought it was silly, a waste, us investing so much time and effort into something that may not even exist. That's when we had the falling out. He left, and it was just us. And now it seemed like a good opportunity to pursue that."_ A pause. _"Suddenly, it was different between us. It had never been that way before, but then we realized it had always been that way, we were only just realizing now - brief as it was."_ Here she paused again, and couldn't help but smile. Then the cut-scene continued. _"When we arrived here, we were extremely determined. This was our life's work..."_

The clip replayed from Nigel's backstory of them stepping out of the Jeep, only now the others noticed them put an arm around each other. More clips showed Vera with a camera, snapping pictures of everything. "Oh come on Russ!" she laughed when Van Pelt ducked away from her camera. "Smile!"

 _"...I kept wondering what we would do once we found it. We'd been working on this for so long that it was strange to think of it actually being over. And then, we found it..."_ The clip showed the group emerging through the trees, Vera and Van Pelt in the front, to find the great statue ahead. Van Pelt took a beaming Vera into his arms and spun her around in a celebratory hug. It was funny for the others to see him so happy, only having seen him angry really. _"Our life's work, finally found. It was an extremely proud moment for both of us..."_ Again, she paused to smile a little at the memory. But that smile soon fell. " _We climbed up the statue. He was ahead of me. I don't like heights, so I was moving slower..."_

The clip showed the two climbing up the statue, aided by a long rope, Vera indeed far behind.

"Russel!" she called up. "What do you see?"

She was answered by a flash of green light, and him holding the jewel in his hand, already possessed by its power.

 _"I actually never reached the top of the statue, for the next thing I knew, he had the jewel and the curse was set."_ She paused. _"And he wouldn't let it out of his sight. He wouldn't even let me hold it. It was funny, a couple of nights before we found it, he said to me, 'finding this jewel is going to be the start of a new life for us Vera.' And now look at us. New indeed."_

The clip skipped ahead to her running through the jungle, jewel in hand, after she and Nigel stole it back. Distant shouting from the camp could be heard. "Sorry Russel," she mumbled. "But you left me no choice." She continued running.

She paused in her story again, and they all waited for her to continue. But she didn't. Instead, the cut-scene fell away, signalling her story was over. She just shrugged, eyes still locked on the flames. "There, now you have it."

The others absorbed this.

"Vera, why didn't you tell us?" Bethany asked.

"I didn't think it would be the best information to disclose upon us meeting."

"Now I get why you wanted to destroy it." Spencer nodded.

"Yeah. I'd hoped I would be able to free him from the clutches of corruption, but..." Her words trailed off and she shrugged again. She picked up a stick and tossed it into the fire. "Excuse me," she then said, getting to her feet and leaving the group of avatars sitting around the fire.

 _There it is, now you have the backstory! :) Hope you guys liked it, thanks so much for all the reads and reviews! :)_


	14. The Difficult Truth

Hello again! :) Here's the next chapter for you - hope you enjoy!

Fourteen: The Difficult Truth

When Spencer found Vera, she was crouched down by a nearby stream splashing water on her face. She looked up sharply at him, as though he had startled her.

"Just me," he said.

"Hey."

"I'm just filling these up." He held up their canteens.

She nodded and he knelt down beside her to scoop up some water.

"Thanks for telling us your story," he said after a pause.

"Oh, yeah. Thanks for listening."

"I realize it was probably difficult to recall."

She gave a little shrug. "Like I said before, I'm quite over it." He could tell by the way she said it though that she knew she was lying too. You didn't just get over a betrayal like that.

"Hey, thank you again, for earlier, with the snake. I'm deathly terrified of them, bugs too." She chuckled a little. "Not ideal for an archaeologist working in the jungle. And not so ideal when the man you once had feelings for suddenly has bugs crawling all over him." She chuckled at the absurdity of it. "And I don't know, when I saw the snake I just, froze."

"No problem." He smiled.

"I like your Dr. Bravestone, Spencer," she said.

"You do?"

"Yeah. You're sweet and funny. And cute. Different. But a good different. And I'm glad you're here. All of you. I said I wanted to do this alone, but it was getting difficult. Perhaps I needed some additional support. I was becoming rather uncertain."

"Well uh, thanks." He smiled. Then he asked, "is he a real jerk, like in real life?"

She chuckled. "Not exactly. He's very self-centered, and flirtatious. Loves attention. And loves to joke around - he put a rubber snake in my desk drawer once."

"Oooo..."

"Yeah. Still haven't forgiven him. Never will." They both chuckled. "No, he's just not much of a team player. If anyone was the team, it was Russel and I." Recalling the memory, she didn't catch herself and called him by his first name and not just 'Van Pelt' as she had before.

He nodded. Then he turned more serious. "Vera," he said, as gently as he could. "I don't think the jewel corrupted him."

She was quiet for a moment before she sighed. "No, I think you're right. I just didn't want to believe it was him."

"I'm sorry." She shrugged. "You know, I kind of get it, the whole betrayal thing, feeling betrayed by a friend. I know this isn't really the same thing, but Fridge and I used to be really close friends, back in elementary school. But then suddenly, I wasn't 'cool' enough to hang out with him anymore."

"I'm sorry."

"So if you ever want to talk, I'm here."

She smiled a little. "Thank you, Spencer.

He smiled back. Then his smile fell and he turned serious again. "Vera, have you noticed that everyone besides us here acts kind of strange? Like they repeat themselves and only say a few things?" He was curious as to what her extent of awareness about the game was. So far, it seemed like virtually none.

Now she appeared thoughtful. "Not really. Why?"

"Or that no matter how many we take down, Van Pelt still seems to have the same number of men?"

Now she looked confused, and shook her head.

"Because-" Here goes. "-There's no real easy way to say this but - they're not real. It's not real. It's all just a game - Jumanji. It's a video game me and the others found and got sucked into. You're one of the characters. Same with Nigel. And Van Pelt - he's the classic video game bad guy." He paused, trying to read her expression. "And Alex - he's been here longer than us, but we don't know how long..." He trailed off, allowing her to absorb this. She stared at him, he staring expectantly back.

 _SMACK!_ She struck him across the face. She looked wounded. "How dare you tell me that this isn't real! That all I've done has been for nothing!"

"Vera I-"

"You think this is some sort of damn joke?"

"No! Of course not-"

"Get away from me!" she hissed and shoved him. While when Fridge had shoved him before he hadn't moved, her shoving him caused him to stumble back. Wow, she really was strong.

"Vera, I didn't mean-"

"Oh shut up! And you wonder why I was so hesitant to trust you. Well I shouldn't have. And no, you don't understand how I feel - don't pretend to." And with that, she stormed off into the trees.

Spencer just stood there, rooted to his spot, shocked. Finally, he snapped out of his trance.

What had he done?

"Vera - wait!" Without another thought he took off after her.

But she was gone. Nowhere in sight. She had fled, deep into the trees, away from them - away from him.

Their task to get home, the person they were supposed to help in order to leave the game, was gone, and it was all his fault. This now weighing heavily on him, he returned to the group.

"Spencer? What's wrong, what happened?" Martha noticed his distress first.

He looked down, guilt written all over his face. "Vera's gone."

"What?"

"She left."

"Why?"

"I told her this was all just a game. And of course, she took offense to that. How could I have been so stupid?" he cried. "But I thought she deserved to know."

The group was silent, absorbing this.

"Now what do we do?" asked Bethany, but everyone was wondering the same. "We're supposed to help her right? That's how we complete the game." But how were they supposed to help her now if she wasn't here?

"We do what she would want us to," Spencer decided. "Complete the quest."

 _Thank you guys so much for all the reads and reviews! :) I'm so, so glad you guys are enjoying this story! It is starting to wrap up I'm afraid, but there's still a few chapters left! Thanks again so much and I hope you enjoyed as always! :)_


	15. Encounter

Hello again! Welcome back! :)

Fifteen: Encounter

Storming through the jungle, Vera was suddenly drawn to a sharp halt, snapped from her angry thoughts. _How could he say that? How could he believe that? And I was just beginning to warm to them-_

Although it was a welcome distraction from her current thoughts, she sensed something around her, an uneasy presence. There was a pause in the dark and quiet; her hand wrapped around one handgun...

Seconds later the weapon was drawn and she had whirled around, pointing it at the emptiness that was behind her, surrounding her, finger on the trigger, ready. Or maybe not... Maybe she hadn't sensed someone else. She lowered the gun - maybe she was just paranoid.

When she turned back to resume her trek, she came face-to-face with the watchful vulture. It was a giant bird, big and menacing. A shrill squeak escaped her lips and she jumped back.

The bird only cocked its head to the side, regarding her through its small, dark eyes. Eyes dark like those of its master, or at least before they had become the bright green of the stone that controlled him. Vera had always found herself intrigued by those dark eyes, and would only have ever admitted it to him.

She did not need to turn around to know that he was there too. The bird had led him to her. She kept the gun lowered, for now, but her grip on it tightened.

Finally, she turned and met his eyes, familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time. They stared at each other for a long time in silence.

She spoke first. "You've got a little something there." She pointed to her own cheek, watching a little bug with many legs skitter across his cheek and disappear beneath the collar of his jacket. He didn't even flinch whereas the sight made her stomach churn. He stepped closer and she shuddered when a centipede crawled out of his hair and into his ear. This was enough to make her cringe. "Did not need to see that..." She squeezed her eyes shut tight and shook her head, trying to rid her memory of that image now seared into her brain.

He reached out to hold her cheek, the leather of his glove brushed soft against her skin. She batted his hand away. "Sod off." He lowered his hand. There was another moment of silence before she scoffed. "'This is going to be the start of a new life for us Vera'. Seriously? I mean, what the hell Russel? You can't just say something like that and then pull a stunt like this. Our life's work." She scoffed again. He didn't say anything, only continued to stare at her through his now bright green eyes. She didn't like it. "Say something. You came here for a reason." But still, he remained silent. "I don't have your bloody jewel." Only now it dawned on her too - she'd left it with the others, her thoughts too clouded with anger to remember it. After much convincing, they'd manged to get her to give it to Fridge to put in his backpack for safekeeping.

"All this time..." Finally, he spoke. "The key to unlocking the jewel was right here in front of me..."

What the hell? "What are you talking about?" Controlling all the animal life in Jumanji and setting a curse upon the jungle wasn't enough? He wanted more power?

"You-" Now he came forward and cupped her face in both hands. "You're the key..." His green eyes were wide and bright and he chuckled with realization.

She squirmed away. "What are you talking-"

"Come with me Vera, join me. Together we shall rule the jungle."

Did it sound as ridiculous as she thought it did?

"Give in to it's power-"

"Okay stop-"

"Come with me Vera, join me..."

"What-"

"Come with me Vera..."

"Wh- stop!"

"Join me..."

"Stop saying that!" The repetition was robotic almost, delivered the same each time.

She stared back at him, shocked. _I loved you!_ she wanted to scream, but forced herself to hold her tongue. "Even if I were to, that's not going to happen to me is it?" She gestured to her face, clear of bugs, thank goodness, unlike his. "Well, as tempting as that sounds-" She made sure her voice was dripping with so much sarcasm even the most gullible could tell. They now stood close, their faces inches apart, she looking up at him. So close, she was sure he could feel her hot breath on his face. "-I'm not taking any chances. Think again, Mate. You made your choice Russel, and I've made mine." With that, she drew away and turned on her heel and started to stalk off.

"They're heading to the statue, Bravestone and the others. See you there, Vera." He knew she would go back to the statue. Whether for him or the others, she would go.

 _Yay we finally got to see them together - sort of ;) I'm super invested in their relationship, if you couldn't tell ;) Haha! Thanks so much for reading and as always, hope you enjoyed!_


	16. The Last Level is Always the Hardest

Hello welcome back! Thank you to all who have read, reviewed, followed, and favourited this story, it means so much to me! :)

Sixteen: The Last Level is Always the Hardest

There it was, the jaguar statue. Night had fallen, and now it stood looming, a dark shadow in the distance. Thunder rumbled in the distance, followed closely by strikes of lightning.

"The final level," Spencer declared. "The last level is always the hardest."

Putting Fridge's plan into action, the five split up to lure away 'the defenders', real, alive jaguars protecting the statue, and trying to avoid the men on motorcycles who had arrived in pursuit of them.

The plan went relatively smoothly - that was, until they reached the base of the statue.

Spencer, Martha, and Alex looked in horror at the sight ahead of them: Van Pelt had caught Bethany and was now holding his silver gun to her head, a pack of jaguars surrounding them.

"Beth!" cried Martha. "Oh no-"

"Let her go," Spencer tried.

"The jewel, now," Van Pelt demanded. "Or your friend dies." They just stared back at him. Bethany felt the cold press of his gun against the side of her head.

"Bethany, no!" cried Alex. "Take me instead!" He gestured to himself.

There was a moment of tense silence that was broken moments later by the sound of a crash, followed by a wail. This was followed by more crashing and cries. The group turned to look back at where the motorcycle men had surrounded them, but one by one, they were all being taken down by some seemingly invisible force-

Martha and Spencer exchanged a glance. _It's her,_ her gaze said. He nodded, a smile appearing on his face.

Now, despite having a gun pressed firmly to her head, Bethany smiled too. "Oh boy, you have a storm coming!" she told Van Pelt. "Your ex-girlfriend is here, and she's pissed! And trust me, there's nothing worse than a pissed off ex-girlfriend!"

And she was right. With the next crack of thunder and flash of lightning, the group saw her silhouette from where she stood above them on a little cliff side, leg up on a rock, just like when they had first met her. She had changed her appearance some, now with a leather jacket over her tank top and not her blue shirt, and also different pants and boots, and a helmet over her head hiding her face, having disguised herself as one of the mercenaries.

Vera removed her long riding gloves and then whipped off her helmet, her yellow hair now down and flowing around her face. She grinned at Van Pelt. "Hey Love," she mocked.

Van Pelt just responded by pressing the gun more firmly to Bethany's head, as though his ex-girlfriend and work partner hadn't just shown up meaning business. "Five..." He began to countdown. Nothing. "Four..." Still nothing. "Three..."

"Spencer!" hissed Martha.

"I can't give you the jewel," Spencer said.

"Spencer!" cried Alex this time.

"Two!"

"Because I don't have it!"

As if on cue, there was a rustling nearby. Moments later, Fridge burst through the trees, riding on the back of an elephant and holding the jewel up in the air almost tauntingly. "ZOOLOGY BITCH!"

Seeing as her captor was momentarily stunned by Fridge's dramatic entrance - they all were - Bethany seized this as her moment. "Douchebag! You suck!" She stomped on Van Pelt's foot, followed by driving her elbow into his chest. He let go of her but recovered quickly and promptly backhanded her across the face. Then he took the chance to set his jaguars loose on Fridge and the elephant, causing Fridge to let go of the jewel and it to go flying up onto a nearby cliff.

Now Van Pelt raised his gun on Bethany again, finger on the trigger-

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Alex dove forward, taking out Van Pelt before he could shoot her.

Spencer, Martha, and Vera all leaped into action while Alex fought Van Pelt.

"Wait, elephant!" cried Martha in realization.

"Begin the climb," Spencer finished.

"You guys go, I got this." With that, Martha charged towards a group of men - time to put her dance fighting skills to good use.

Spencer turned to Vera and smiled. "You came back."

She nodded. "I figured, I've been at this too long to give up now, real or not."

"Vera, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"But it's real to me," she finished with a smile. "What did you lot get up to while I was gone?"

"Uh, well, we learned that Alex has actually been stuck here for twenty years, Martha flirted with some guys to distract them while we snuck into the transportation shed, and she totally kicked their asses at dance fighting. We stole a helicopter, which I was hanging out of, got chased by rhinos, almost lost the jewel - almost - and Bethany saved Alex's life."

She looked a mix of shocked and impressed. "Hmm, you were busy."

Their path was blocked by jaguars.

"How did you get past the jaguars last time?" he asked.

"We didn't. They weren't here. He's controlling them."

They both noticed a flicker of green up on the nearby cliff - the jewel.

"Here, you go, I'll hold them off," Spencer said, speaking of the cats. She nodded and took off running - no time to lose!

The cliff was small so she didn't have to climb up very far. However, what met her at the top of it almost made her fall - it was a pit full of little snakes.

Of course, it just had to be. And of course, the jewel was sitting at the centre, surrounded by them, almost as though they were guarding it.

But she had no choice. So, taking a deep breath and mustering up all the courage she could, she gingerly took a step forward. The snakes didn't move, just watched her. She could feel the press of their gazes.

She tried to maintain a wide stance to balance herself better - she narrowly avoided stepping on a snake. Finally, she reached it. She scooped it up. "Gotcha."

Suddenly, in eerie unison, all the snakes stretched their heads up and with one great hiss, all turned at once to look behind her. She looked too - there stood Van Pelt.

"I'll take that." He reached his hand out expectantly. She didn't move. "Game over, Vera."

She gave a firm shake of her head and clutched the jewel close. "Not yet."

Once again he commanded the snakes, and now all their heads turned on her - he knew how terrified she was of them. Searching around desperately for an escape, she quickly lost her footing and began to stumble.

"Vera, wait - stop!" But his warning came too late. Stumbling back, she accidentally stomped on one of the snakes. This in turn made it angry and with a vicious hiss, it rose up and dug its fangs into her leg. Pain struck her expression and a sharp gasp escaped her lips. She grew rigid.

"I-I hate s-snakes," she managed to choke out after a stunned moment, before the others, including Van Pelt, watched in horror as she, now weak, stumbled off the edge of the cliff.

"Oh my God!"

"Vera!"

The jewel fell from her hands, plunging into a rushing river below, lost. Just when it looked like she might crash to the ground, the vulture swooped in and took the collar of her jacket in its talons, swooping down and landing, gently laying her on the grass.

The others scrambled over to her, but Van Pelt beat them to it. He dropped to his knees by her side.

Pain creased Vera's face. She writhed a little as the venom spread and her face and neck were already shiny with sweat, her body's desperate attempt at ridding itself of the deadly venom, but all in vain.

"Vera you're hurt, lie still," Van Pelt instructed, his voice surprisingly gentle.

"R-Russell?" she breathed. "W-where are you? I c-can hear you, but I-I can't s-see you..." She blinked, again and again.

"I'm right here." He took her hand in both of his gloved ones.

"Oh, there you are..." Although it was obvious she still couldn't see him. "W-where are we?"

"VERA!" Now the other five arrived, stopping dead when they saw Van Pelt.

"Bravestone?" She recognized his voice. "You're here too? Did we come to an understanding? I'm glad..."

The venom was making her confused. Even her words were becoming slurred. And she was already sickeningly pale, the venom doing its damage fast.

"We- we're in Jumanji," Van Pelt answered.

She seemed to almost perk up at this. "Jumanji?" She chuckled. "We made it..."

"Yes, we did."

"After all this time... Did we find it, the jewel?"

"Y-yes..."

She breathed a heavy sigh, one that sounded like disbelief. "I knew we could do it..."

"Vera-"

One last heavy breath left her lips before she became quiet and her body went limp.

As though reflecting the now somber mood, thunder rumbled distantly.

The five others kept their distance, but all looked at their fallen friend with sadness.

There wasn't long to mourn though. Furious now, Van Pelt spun around, rising to his feet and pointed his gun at the group. "This is all your fault!" he accused.

"Our fault?!" demanded Bethany. "You're the asshole who stole the damn jewel!"

Just as he was about to fire, there was a rumbling and everything shook.

Moments later, all was still again. Just as abruptly, all was quiet.

 _Duh duh duh! Cliffhanger! ;) Haha! It's been a bit of a stressful week - lots of assignments due, and on top of it all I had computer troubles and had to take it in to get it fixed. But, it's all fixed now, so I can continue writing ;) The end is near I'm afraid, but there's still a few chapters left! Thanks so much for reading and as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as well as the little twists I added! :)_


	17. The True Nature of the Jewel'

Hey guys! Here's the next chapter for you, hope you enjoy! :)

Seventeen: 'The True Nature of the Jewel is Not What You Think...'

"Whoa..."

"W-what happened?"

"You guys felt that too?"

"Alright, what the hell just happened?"

The five stood at the mouth of the forest again. They jumped when, just as before, the long, torch-framed pathway lit up, as though beckoning them to venture down it.

"This again?"

"Uh oh guys, we've got company..." Lights through the trees signaled Van Pelt and his men arriving.

Everything happened just as before: they split up, followed Fridge's plan, only for it to be halted when Van Pelt caught Bethany. Then Vera arrived and they leapt into action again.

"The jewel!" cried Vera.

"We got it!" Spencer cried, not wanting a repeat of last time. "Martha, Fridge, and I will get the jewel, you help Bethany and Alex." He didn't give her time to protest, and rushed off with Martha and Fridge in tow.

Vera turned to face the others, just in time to see Van Pelt punch Alex and send him flying.

"Alex!" cried Bethany. Then she noticed the fellow blonde woman. "Vera!" She had a clean shot, and was even holding her gun ready. But she was frozen, finger on the trigger. "Vera!"

Vera cursed herself - she had a clean shot, why wasn't she taking it? Her hand was shaking so much she was afraid she would miss and hit Alex. No, it wasn't just that; she didn't want to hit _him_ either.

 _Bang_! A shot shattered the night, drawing everyone to a sharp and sudden halt. But it wasn't from Vera's gun.

It was one of Van Pelt's mercenaries. They weren't sure where he had been aiming, but he had missed terribly - and hit Vera.

It was hard to miss, as her light-coloured tank-top made the blood stand out, even in the dark.

"VERA!"

"Oh no, not again-"

The mercenary realized his mistake, but too late. Next thing they all knew, there was another deafening ring as Van Pelt shot the man dead and rushed to catch Vera just as she collapsed. "Vera-"

She stared up at him, wide-eyed and gasping. "T-this is y-your f-fault," she hissed at him. "Y-you did t-this..."

Then, just as suddenly as before, everything shook and then was all still again. Vera was gone, Van Pelt was gone, and it was just the five avatars, standing before the entrance to the shrine.

" _Again_?"

"Seriously?!"

"What are we, trapped in a time loop or something?"

"Why does that keep happening?"

Again, everything played out just as before:

"Give me the jewel, or your friend dies."

"I can't give you the jewel."

"Hey Love."

"ZOOLOGY BITCH!"

"Douchebag! You suck!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE!"

"Wait, I think it's trying to tell us something," Spencer said, waving the group over. "I think we're doing this wrong. Usually in video games if you fail at your task, the level ends and you have to start over from the beginning..."

"So you're thinking we keep failing at our task?" Martha summed up.

"Yeah..."

"But we're doing what they want! We're trying to get the jewel back to the statue."

"Yeah, but what if the jewel isn't actually the literal jewel? What if it goes deeper than that?" Spencer turned to Vera. "Vera, I think you're the key to saving Jumanji. I think you're the jewel. Or at least, you have to be the one to return it."

She gawked at him. "What?! That makes no sense!"

"But just think, the message the snake was guarding: 'the jewel is the heart but not the key'. And remember what Nigel said: 'the true nature of the jewel is not what you think.'" He looked to the others who were nodding, recalling this. "This must have been what he meant."

Vera still looked skeptical. "B-but-" But then she recalled what Russell had said. " _All this time... The key to unlocking the jewel was right here in front of me... You, you're the key_..." He'd literally told her, but she had just dismissed it as the possession of the jewel's power over him.

"And our task," Spencer continued, everything clicking into place. "We're here to help you save Jumanji. Help _you_." Now they were all looking at her expectantly. "And I think Van Pelt realizes that."

"That's why he's so intent on keeping me unharmed..." He nodded. "B-but-" She looked up at the statue, alit by a flash of lightning, and the thunder that followed it sounding like a great roar. The height of the statue alone was giving her jitters, let alone this new pressure to save this place.

"Vera, if Fridge and I can take on a snake, if Spencer can do all those brave things, if Martha could flirt and fight those guys, and if Alex could fly that helicopter, you can do this," Bethany assured her.

"We're here to help and support you," Martha added.

"Yeah, and I'll be right up there with you," Spencer assured her. "We'll do this together."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Okay."

"You need to get to the top of the statue."

"I need to get to the top of the statue."

A group of motorcycles surrounded them, snapping them back into action.

"You two go, I'll get the jewel to you." With that, Martha dance-fought her way to the cliff.

"You go, get a head start. There's something I have to take care of here first." Spencer didn't answer. "Spencer?"

He appeared to snap from some sort of trance. "Yeah?"

"You alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I - no," he sighed. "Vera I - I'm scared. I'm not actually Bravestone, I'm not actually brave. And if we don't succeed, I don't know what's going to happen..." He looked at the ground.

"Hey." She placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, making him look up. "But see, you are brave. I've seen you be brave. And admitting that you're scared, that's one of the bravest things to do. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little scared too."

He nodded slowly, and a smile spread across his face. "Thanks Vera."

She smiled back. "Now, let's do this."

With that, they split up. She turned to face the fight taking place between Alex, Bethany, and Van Pelt. This time, Alex ducked out of the way, just missing being punched.

Van Pelt withdrew his gun. Seeing that this was her chance, Vera charged forward. She jumped in front of Alex and Bethany and kicked the gun from his hand. Having caught him off guard, she didn't waste this moment and kicked him to the ground, delivering a punch to his jaw. This did the trick, and he lay there motionless for a moment, groaning.

Bethany and Alex had joined Fridge and were safe. They all turned at the sound of a roaring motor to see Spencer speed by on a motorcycle he had taken, beginning the climb.

That was her cue. Only, how was she going to get up to the top of the statue.

As the loyal jaguars crept around their master, she got an idea. With Van Pelt down for now, he couldn't control them... "Oi Finbar, jaguars are good climbers, right?"

"Yeah. Their skills include that, swimming, and crawling. And they have a very powerful bite," the zoologist told her.

"Brilliant." She held out her hand, letting one of the great cats sniff her to gain some trust between them. Then she hopped onto its back and it bounded off, climbing the statue.

"Don't look down, don't look down," she repeated, almost like a chant to calm herself, as they continued to climb. "Why does it have to be at the very top of the bloody statue?"

Looking ahead she saw Spencer had reached the top - the sun was just starting to rise above them. There was the sound of chimes and she saw a flash of red hair and a pink shirt and green jewel as Martha fell from the sky, having used up one of her lives to get the jewel to them.

Using a rope with a hook on the end from the bike, Spencer swung off the side of the statue to meet her as she fell, catching the jewel. He got it right as Vera and her new jaguar friend made it to the top, and Martha had a safe landing below.

Spencer tossed the jewel into Vera's hands. "Care to do the honours?"

"Gladly." With that, she plunged the jewel into the eye of the statue.

Nothing happened. Nothing. There was only tense silence as everyone watched and waited. They'd done everything right, what were they missing?

"'Call out its name...'"

"'Call out its name!'"

"Call out its name, everyone!"

"Jumanji!"

"Jumanji!"

"JUMANJI!"

 _JUMANJI! :D So, what did you think of my twist? The next chapter I had two ideas for, and I couldn't decide on one, so I wrote both! Looking forward to seeing what you guys think of both - thanks so much for reading and as always, hope you enjoyed! :)_


	18. Level Complete (Version 1)

Helloooo! Here's the first version of the ending! Enjoy!

Eighteen: Level Complete (Version 1)

" _JUMANJI_!"

There was an almost blinding flash, followed by stunned silence. The silence was broken by Vera's excited cry, she jumping into the air with a fist-pump. "We did it!" The others soon joined in, cheering and hugging.

"You guys, we did it, we finished the game," Alex said once Vera and Spencer had made it down from the statue and joined the rest of the group.

While they celebrated their victory, they heard a groan from off to the side. "Vera?"

They looked to see Van Pelt, no longer surrounded by jaguars, sitting up and looking disoriented, holding his jaw where she had punched him, and a nasty bruise was already forming.

"I'm going to go give that guy a piece of my mind-" Fridge stormed forward, but Vera held up a hand, signalling for him to-

"Wait-" Slowly, she stepped forward, approaching Van Pelt, who was shakily getting to his feet, looking around in mixed wonder and confusion.

While the others hadn't known him before, only knowing him in his cursed state, they didn't catch on to the notable difference: his eyes were no longer green in their possessed state. They were back to their usual intriguing dark brown. That, and he didn't have bugs crawling all over him anymore.

"Vera-" He noticed her slowly approaching. "What's wrong?" Then he noticed the others. Now he looked even more puzzled. "Bravestone? What are you doing here? I thought you left." The others shuffled back.

Vera now stood before him, staring up at him curiously. Slowly, hesitantly almost, she reached up and held his cheek, turning his head from side to side, and up and down, making sure it wasn't just her own eyes playing tricks on her. No, his eyes really were back to normal. And no bugs.

The curse, the jewel, its power... Now that they had returned the jewel and broken the curse, could that mean...

"I thought you said he was just the bad guy," she called to Spencer, eyes still on Van Pelt.

"That's what I thought. It made sense." Van Pelt had just seemed like the classic video game villain. However, this game did seem to have a mind of its own to some degree... It was full of surprises.

"Vera?" Van Pelt still appeared to have no clue what was going on. "What's happening? Where are we?"

"How much do you remember?" She posed a question of her own.

"Uh, not much-"

"Well that's convenient," mumbled Fridge.

"-We traveled to Jumanji - wait, is that where we are? We found it? And the jewel, did we finally find it? Is it real?" Now he looked excited.

She scoffed in disbelief, a smile spreading across her face. She looked as though she might burst into tears. "You have no idea." She shook her head. "Russell."

"Yeah?"

 _SMACK!_ Now he fell victim to one of Vera's vicious slaps. "Trust me, you deserve that." Now he was only even more confused, especially when, right after that, Vera threw her arms around him in a passionate kiss.

"Whoa," Spencer and Martha both declared. Fridge almost dropped his backpack. Even Van Pelt looked surprised at first, but quickly recovered and fully returned the kiss.

It got pretty awkward pretty quick. Alex looked slightly uncomfortable, while Bethany looked slightly unsure. "It's kinda weird, but also kinda cute..."

"Uh, you do remember he was trying to kill us like five minutes ago right?" Fridge said.

Vera broke away, laughing and watery-eyed. "I thought I lost you! You stole the jewel and then there was this curse, and you became possessed and turned all evil, and had bugs crawling all over your face and your eyes turned all green! I even began to wonder - and worry - if it wasn't the curse. B-but it was, in the end." She laughed again in disbelief. "And then - AHHHH!" She suddenly screamed and jumped back when a fat tarantula emerged from beneath the collar of his coat and onto his shoulder, this one lagging behind after his loss of power.

He jumped and began trying to brush the hairy spider off his coat. Finally, he did, and it landed on the grass and scurried away. There was a moment before she burst into laughter and threw her arms around him once more.

 _Beep beep!_

This time their embrace was cut off by the honking of a car horn. Down a dirt road ahead, a Jeep was making its way along towards them.

"It's Nigel!" The group rushed to meet the Jeep. Nigel emerged, looking impressed and proud.

"You did it friends!" he cried. "You lifted the curse! All of Jumanji thanks you! So sadly, this is where we part." Vera came over and joined the field guide in bidding their friends farewell. This was it.

"Goodbye, Alex," Vera said, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry. Had I known that it had been so long, I would have helped you right away-"

"Hey, it's cool. I didn't realize it either," he assured her. "Thanks Vera."

"You taught me to persevere, and keep trying." They hugged. "See you later, Seaplane. You're not so bad after all."

"Seaplane McDonough, let me shake your hand." Nigel extended his hand.

Alex turned to the others one last time. "Thanks guys." Then he reached out to shake Nigel's hand, and vanished almost instantly.

Now Nigel turned to Fridge. "I shall miss you the most, Mouse-"

"Get me the hell outta here!" Fridge practically leapt forward, throwing off his backpack. He paused in reaching out to shake Nigel's hand to turn to Vera. "Hey, it was nice meeting you."

"You as well, Fridge." She tried out the nickname. "You taught me that size doesn't matter, doesn't measure your worth or strength, coming from a fellow small person." She pulled him into a hug before he took Nigel's hand and was sent off as well.

"Adieu, Professor Oberon." Next Nigel extended his hand to Bethany.

Beth turned to Vera. "Later girl. Good luck with everything."

"Thank you, Beth. You taught me the importance of loving me for who I am." They hugged. "I shall always remember your advice."

Bethany gave her hands a squeeze and one last smile before also shaking Nigel's hand and disappearing.

"Ruby Roundhouse-" Now it was Martha's turn.

"And you Martha, you taught me that a little confidence can go a long way. I might have to give that dance fighting a try."

Martha chuckled and hugged the smaller woman. "Thanks. Bye Vera."

"Goodbye."

Martha too shook Nigel's outstretched hand. Now it was only Spencer who remained.

Spencer turned to Vera. "So, I guess this is it, huh?"

"It would seem so."

"You gonna be okay?"

She chuckled a little. "Yeah, we'll be good. We'll figure something out. I obviously have a lot of explaining to do."

"What going to happen to you? Now that the game's over?"

She considered this. "I don't know. We'll see, I suppose. It'll be an adventure." She looked a little nervous, but smiled through it.

He extended his hand. "Well then, farewell Dr. Bailey."

"Farewell Spencer." She shook his hand.

Spencer looked at Nigel, waiting patiently to send him on his way. She sensed his uncertainty. "Hey - go home Spencer, live your life. And don't worry, you still have lots of time to figure everything out. You've got your whole life to. And I know you will." She smiled. "Goodbye Spencer. Thank you."

"Bye Vera. Thank _you_."

"Bye." She turned away. "And Spencer, one more word of advice: never stop living the adventure." She smiled.

He smiled back. Then he turned back to the expectant field guild. "Nigel, I'm ready to go home." He gave an affirmative nod, preparing himself.

"Doctor Bravestone, it's been an honour." Nigel extended his hand. "Farewell my good man."

"See you later, Bravestone," Spencer said softly. Then he reached out and took Nigel's hand.

 _So that's one of the versions of the end - what did you think? ;) I've become so invested in Vera and Van Pelt's relationship that I was searching for some way for the possibility of having a happy ending for them, so there we go! Next is the second version of the ending, something different, more along the lines of how this story was originally going to go! Hope you enjoyed and as always, thanks so much for reading! :)_


	19. Level Complete (Version 2)

Hello again! Now time for the second version of the ending! Enjoy!

Nineteen: Level Complete (Version 2)

" _JUMANJI_!"

There was an almost blinding flash, followed by stunned silence. The silence was broken by Vera's excited cry, she jumping into the air with a fist-pump. "We did it!" She jumped into Spencer's arms and they twirled around in a hug, their faces close. He set her back down and they both pulled away, a little awkwardly, but smiling.

"You know," she said. "It's actually a very nice view from up here - if you don't focus too much on how high up we are."

He chuckled. "Yeah, it is."

"I just thought of something."

"Hmm?"

"How are we going to get down from here?" Both laughed.

"You guys, we did it, we finished the game," Alex said once Vera and Spencer had made it down from the statue and joined the rest of the group.

Off to the side, while they celebrated their victory, Van Pelt was still being surrounded by the jaguars, who now pounced on him playfully.

"I'm going to go give that guy a piece of my mind-" Fridge stormed forward, but Vera grabbed his backpack to hold him back. "Whoa, easy there, Mate. We'll deal with him, don't you worry." She made her way over. When the jaguars saw her they scampered off into the trees, leaving a shaken Van Pelt - his eyes were no longer green, therefore he had no more power. She hauled him to his feet by the collar of his jacket and then promptly smacked him across the face.

"Oh I've been waiting to do that!" she declared, and then took some rope from Fridge's backpack to knot his hands together.

 _Beep beep!_

Down a dirt road ahead, a Jeep was making its way towards them.

"It's Nigel!" Alex cried. The group rushed to meet the Jeep. Nigel emerged, looking impressed and proud.

"You did it friends!" he cried. "You lifted the curse! All of Jumanji thanks you! Though sadly, this is where we part." Vera shoved Van Pelt into the back seat of the Jeep before joining the field guide in bidding their friends farewell. This was it.

"Goodbye, Alex," Vera said, shaking his hand. "I'm sorry. Had I known that it had been so long, I would have helped you right away-"

"Hey, it's cool. I didn't realize it either," he assured her. "Thanks Vera."

"You taught me to persevere, and keep trying." They hugged. "See you later Seaplane. You're not so bad after all."

"Seaplane McDonough, let me shake your hand." Nigel extended his hand.

Alex turned to address the others one last time. "Thanks guys." Then he reached out to shake Nigel's hand, and vanished almost instantly.

Now Nigel turned to Fridge. "I shall miss you the most, Mouse-"

"Get me the hell out of here!" Fridge practically leapt forward, throwing off his backpack. He paused in reaching out to shake Nigel's hand to turn to Vera. "Hey, it was nice meeting you."

"You as well, Fridge." She tried out the nickname. "You taught me that size doesn't matter, doesn't measure your worth or strength, coming from a fellow small person." She pulled him into a hug too. Then he shook Nigel's hand and was sent off as well.

"Adieu, Professor Oberon." Nigel extended his hand to Bethany.

Beth turned to Vera. "Later girl. Good luck with the ex-boyfriend, but I know you've got this."

"Thank you Beth. You taught me the importance of loving me for who I am." They hugged. "I shall always remember your advice."

Bethany gave her hands a squeeze and gave one last smile before also shaking Nigel's hand and disappearing.

"Ruby Roundhouse-" Now it was Martha's turn.

"And you Martha, you taught me that a little confidence can go a long way. I might have to give that dance fighting a try."

Martha chuckled and hugged the smaller woman. "Thanks. Bye Vera."

"Goodbye."

Martha too shook Nigel's outstretched hand. Now it was only Spencer who remained.

Spencer turned to Vera. "So, I guess this is it, huh?"

"It would seem so."

"You gonna be okay?"

She chuckled a little. "Yeah, we'll be good. We'll figure something out..." There was a pause. "Okay, come here you." She held out her arms for a hug which he gladly returned.

"What going to happen to you? Now that the game's over?"

She considered this. "I don't know. We'll see, I suppose. It'll be an adventure." She looked a little nervous, but smiled through it.

Spencer looked at Nigel, waiting patiently to send him on his way, but then turned back to Vera. He surprised her by saying, "What if I were to stay? I-I like being like this - with you. We could go on more adventures. We could be like this, every day."

She appeared a little shocked by his suggestion, but then smiled warmly. "Go home Spencer, live your life. And you can be like this, every day. As you." She poked him in the chest. "And don't worry, you have lots of time to figure everything out. You've got your whole life to. And I know you will." She smiled. Then she rose up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He managed to catch the death-glare that Van Pelt was giving him from inside the Jeep.

"Goodbye Spencer. Thank you."

"Bye Vera. Thank _you_."

"Bye." She turned away. "And Spencer, one more word of advice: never stop living the adventure."

He nodded. "Hey Vera, do you think you'll ever reconcile with Bravestone?"

She considered this. "Perhaps." She smiled.

He smiled back. Then he turned back to the expectant field guild. "Nigel. I'm ready to go home." He gave an affirmative nod, preparing himself.

"Doctor Bravestone, it's been an honour." Nigel extended his hand. "Farewell my good man."

"See you later Bravestone," Spencer said softly. Then he reached out and took Nigel's hand.

 _Aww... So this was the original ending, before I became way too invested in Vera and Van Pelt's relationship ;) Which ending did you like better? Like I said, I couldn't decide, so I wrote both! :) That's the nice thing about fanfiction - anything can happen! Either way, I think Van Pelt gets a better ending than dissolving into a bunch of rats, haha! ;) Hope you enjoyed, thanks so much for reading - almost done (one more chapter!)_


	20. The End?

Hello! Here's the final chapter! Hope you enjoy!

Twenty: The End?

They were back home, as themselves, Spencer, Martha, Bethany, and Fridge. As for them, well, they were changed, and for what they saw to be the better. Their adventure as Bravestone, Ruby Roundhouse, Professor Oberon, and Mouse Finbar was not forgotten.

"Yo Spencer."

"Hey man." Spencer and Fridge fist-bumped. They had reconciled and had gone back to being friends.

Bethany was less focused on her phone, less selfish, and definitely more open to trying new things.

"I want to go backpacking," she told her friend Lucinda, who stared shocked back.

"Like outdoors, in nature?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun!"

"Are you okay?"

"Never better!" Bethany assured her.

"Hi Martha!"

"Hi! Hello! Morning!" Martha smiled as she bounced through a crowd of students getting off the bus. She was trying to be less shy and more open, and was so far succeeding. The new term was off to a good start for all of them. And, on top of it, they had all become close friends. Their shared experiences in the game had brought them together.

They all had history together first period.

"Good morning everyone," the cheerful voice of their teacher called out as she entered the classroom. "My name is Ms. Evynsen and I'll be your new history teacher-" She wrote her name on the board and then turned to face the class and when she did, the four friends audibly gasped.

She looked exactly like Vera. Save for her different clothes and shorter hair. And she spoke with an American accent instead of English, but other than that, the resemblance was unmistakable.

"No way," they whispered amongst themselves.

At the end of the class they waited until all the other students had left before going over to her. She greeted them with a smile. "Hi."

"Hi. I'm Bethany."

"Anthony."

"Martha."

"Spencer."

She shook each of their hands. "Nice to meet you all."

"We just wanted to say that we're all really excited for this class," Bethany told her. Her friends nodded in agreement.

At this, she looked touched. "Thank you. This is my first time teaching, so I'm a little nervous, but that means a lot. Thank you."

 _Dum, dum, dum. Dum, dum, dum. Dum, dum, dum._

Everyone froze then when the Jumanji drums suddenly sounded from overhead. Even Ms. Evynsen looked confused.

"Do you guys hear that? It sounds like drums or something."

She could hear them too? The four exchanged a glance.

 _SMASH!_ Out back behind the school where the dumpster was, Fridge smashed the game with a bowling ball they had also found in the cluttered basement. With that, the drums finally ceased.

As they walked away, leaving it behind, and for good, they didn't see the flicker of green light coming from the now seemingly destroyed console.

 _The game always finds a way..._

 _So that's it, we've reached the end! (this is the fastest I've ever completed a story!) I just wanted to say another HUGE thank you to all you guys for reading this story and for going on this adventure with me, I hope you had as much fun as I did! :)_

 _So, while writing 'Heart' I was already planning more for these characters - I'm not ready to let them go yet! Sequel? Maybe! Will we meet Vera again? I hope so! (I have a few ideas!) Not sure about what's going to happen with her look-alike in the real world, but it was just something I wanted to include! I've been thinking of ideas for a sequel and perhaps a prequel (we've got to see the brief happiness in Vera and Van Pelt's relationship, right? ;) haha!)._

 _But first, I've already begun writing another 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' story, which I am very excited for, so I will be posting that very soon! It's called 'My Jewel' and is completely different from 'Heart'._

 _Thanks again so much guys! :) I guess, for the last time in this story, thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :) And remember, to quote Vera: 'Never stop living the adventure!' Bye!_


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